Up to 1500 TNT drivers across Australia took to the streets in a 24-hour strike on Wednesday inthe latest industrial protest over stalled negotiations over pay and working conditions.
The strike followed a series of stoppages in late January which came after the breakdown oftalks between the company and union representatives over a new agreement covering pay and workingconditions.
The Transport Workers Union (TWU) claimed that TNT had refused to hold meetings with unionrepresentatives following the stoppages on January 28 and the latest strike was designed to step uppressure on the company.
The union reported that two men and a woman were injured at a site in Sydney during theindustrial action on Wednesday when a 4.5-tonne truck and a prime mover attempted to drive througha picket line of striking drivers. “Two picketers were handing out flyers to contract drivers notinvolved in the strike when one truck accelerated unexpectedly,” the union said. The TWU claimed adriver working for a company contracted to TNT told the picketers his boss had instructed him to”run them over”.
But TNT Express Australia strongly denied any allegation that it had been involved in any act ofviolence. It said it had called on the assistance of police to ensure the safe passage of vehiclesentering and exiting those TNT sites where TWU officials have sought to block access. ”Policeattended the scene and no injuries were reported to them,” a company spokesman said.
The company reported that the majority of its depots were operating at 100% capacity onWednesday. But there were some disruptions in a limited number of its metropolitan depots withapproximately 750 of TNT’s 5,000 staff in Australia not attending work on the day of thestrike.
TNT Australia said it remained focused on its customers attempting to minimise disruption andmaintain service levels throughout its network. “We have implemented stringent contingency plans toachieve as close to normal service levels as possible. These measures are designed to minimise theimpact of today’s action on our customers,” the company said on Wednesday.
“We reject claims by the TWU that we are unwilling to negotiate in good faith and we continue toremain hopeful that these negotiations will be resolved without further detriment to TNT Express,our employees and most importantly our customers,” the company concluded.
