Day 1 - 5pm. 28th July 2008
Estimates of the numbers of trucks that are parked up run between 45% to 60% across Australia. Reports are that virtually the only trucks on highways in QLD, NSW, Victoria and South Australia are the Multi -Nation transport companies like Toll, Lynfox and Scotts who have all condemned the shutdown and its organizers.
The protest has collapsed in Western Australia with only 50 trucks turning out for a protest drive in Perth with organizers calling off the 2 week shutdown due to lack of support.
A similar protest drive in Melbourne attracted 30 trucks whilst in Brisbane an estimated 40-50 trucks turned out.
Agmates has spoken to the leaders of the 3 different and separate organizations coordinating the shutdown activities:
Bunny Brown - President of the Australian Long Distance Owners & Drivers Association ALDODA.
ALDODA is the group that is organizing the truck protests in capital cities. Bunny said:
Our day started with an interview on Adelaide radio this morning. Federal transport Minister Anthony Albanese was on first. It was disappointing to hear him say that he had offered to meet with us, but we had refused. This is just not correct, in fact part of the reason we have started this action is because the minister has rejected every request we have made to his office for a meeting.
There is very good grass roots support across the country. The Brisbane protest went off very smoothly. At present we have 20 odd trucks parked up at Coolac near Gundagi near the NSW, Victoria border. We are waiting for more trucks to arrive and plans are a foot to launch a protest from there in a few days.
I have not been able to speak to or organizer in Western Australia to see what the situation is there.
Mick Pattel - The National Road Transport Forum.
I was able to catch up with Mick Pattel late this afternoon. Mick had been snowed under with media interviews most of the day which started with the TV show Sunrise at 7am this morning. Mick said:
I’d like to thank all of those owner drivers who have parked up. It looks to us that we have about 50-60% of all drivers off the road today.
It has been unfortunate that in almost every interview I’ve done I’ve had to answer persistant question about what the ALDODA group is doing. I’ve done my best to avoid being drawn into discussing possible blockades of highways etc.
We are fully cooperating with the police in Queensland and are asking our drivers to stand firm and keep their trucks parked up at home for the duration of the stoppage. At present we still have had no contact from the federal transport minister re a meeting.
Peter Schuback - Mineral & Mines Movers Transport
Peter has spent the day at home with his phones running hot with truckies and the media after his coverage in this mornings Brisbane Courier Mail. He told us:
There seems to be great grass roots support across Australia except for Western Australia. It’s probably understandable that it’s not strong there as the WA government has announced they they will not be introducing the National Transport Laws in the tough form that they are or will be in the Eastern States.
I believe that you can expect to see truck protest in Sydney and Melbourne in the next few days.
The three groups all represent small fleet owners and wage earning drivers. Whilst they have slightly different things they are calling for, all 3 are unanimous on the major issues. The Transport Workers Union and the peak trucking Industry Body Australian Trucking Association both condemn the strike action.
These 3 organizations have risen because a large number of ordinary owner drivers and wage earning truck drivers have felt let down and unrepresented by their Union and the peak trucking bodies.
The fact that there are 3 of them leaves the whole movement vulnerable to being divided and conquered by the large and powerful forces that are amassed against them, being Labor Governents State & Federal, Big Business and the Unions.
These organizations will have a field day with the 3 groups in the media playing one off against the other and ultimately winning the hearts and minds of the general public.
From day 1 it has become clear for the shutdown action to succeed Nationally that the three groups need to merge to form one cohesive organization that represents the 1,000’s of owner drivers and wage earning drivers who have come to them because their traditional reps have left them out to dry.
These people who are backing the groups are honest hard working men and women who along with their families are making an incredible financial sacrifice to support their respective leaders in this shutdown. All of these ‘working Australians’ have car repayments, mortgages and household bills to pay and can ill afford too have no income for 2 weeks and run the risk being sacked.
I’d urge the respective group leaders too think long and hard about what they are doing and remember that they’re members have placed their trust and faith in you to achieve the right outcomes for all down trodden drivers. The truck drivers that are supporting you are looking for leadership, not petty squabbling and infighting between the groups. This will if not corrected, ultimately derail the whole shutdown action.
I’d recommend that if the three groups cannot come together and form one united cohesive association too fight for they’re members and the positive outcomes that the Unions and ATA won’t, then they should stop playing politics, call the whole thing off right now and let they’re loyal truckie members get back to making a living.
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See all Articles on the Transport Shutdown Here
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Have your say! What do you think?
You have hit the nail on the head.
We discussed this at our meeting at Penrith. All three groups must get together to fight for a common cause or we are wasting our time.
I hope that you guys will see this,as this is our worst fear. UNITED WE STAND DIVIDED WE FALL.
I am an employee driver with mortgages to pay and can ill afford to be off work, however, we cannot afford not to!
My suggestion is to hit a particular industry where it hurts for a week or two at a time. If we stopped all supermarket deliveries first, within a few days Woollies and Coles wouldn’t have any perishables to sell. No Milk, Bread or high turnover produce such as fruit and vegetables.
To achieve this, all drivers could be asked to donate a few bucks to be paid to those who are parked up.
Next, we could ask fuel drivers to only deliver diesel and not petrol. If we deliver diesel only then we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot and stop ourselves from working.
I am considering going back to work tomorrow because I have just refinanced, split up with my partner and now live in a shed! It is just like every parking bay - it has no shower or toilet facilities either!!!!!
I am usually only home one day a week, spending most nights in the sleeper on the side of the road, at a farm, or at a roadhouse somewhere.
The state of our roads is a disgrace. Maybe we should be taking a class action against all levels of government as they are not providing a safe and healthy environment for those using their land, whether that is the road we drive on or a parking bay.
OH&S Rules apply to any business, and where people enter that place of business the owner or manager must provide a safe and healthy environment for all employees or visitors to the site. They even have to provide a separate disabled toilet. We would be pleased to have just one!
If you were to work in an office and the loo was out of order or wasn’t even put in during construction, no one would work there. Truckies shower and crap too, just like the general public. I refuse to climb into my bunk before showering!
I believe we should not penalize industries that support us. Farmers and rural communities have enough time to wait for deliveries anyway.
Using the options outlined above, it could be done in the south east corner of Qld only, having a very big effect on a very large number of people. We would get far more bang for our bucks!
I am all for withdrawing our services, however, I feel it needs to be more targeted.
Ron Williams.