Union claims that poor pay is causing the driver shortage in South Canterbury have been strongly rebuffed by one local transport operator.
The Timaru Herald reports that the First union south region secretary Paul Watson says that there are issues around pay rates with some heavy licence holders paid just $17 an hour.
Watson says employers needed “to do better if theres a shortage”, adding companies could not get drivers because they were “arguably” not getting paid enough.
But Woodley’s Transport managing director Alistair Woodley adamantly told the Timaru Herald that low pay was not the reason his firm was short on drivers.
He says there’s just not enough people to go around and he doesn’t know of any South Canterbury firm employing heavy licence holders on contracts which paid as low as $17.00 per hour.
A local class 5 licence holder Corey Kitchen told the Timaru Herald he was working on casual contracts for freight companies and earning $23 an hour, around $60,000 per annum.
Kitchen says he has had to work hard to achieve that figure, he feels $17.00 per hour was low for a class 4 driver, but says he used to be paid even less.
Road Transport Forum chief executive Ken Shirley says low pay could be causing a shortage but it is one of many issues faced by the transport industry.
“The industry accepts that we would like to pay more, but there is a real scarcity of competent people,” he says.
Shirley believes the “immediate crisis” is a lack of interest in the profession.
Other transport operators in South Canterbury contacted by the Timaru Herald yesterday declined to comment on the issue.
The First Union represents workers from five sectors, including transport and logistics. It was created in 2011 through the amalgamation of Finsec and the national distribution union.
