Tanker truck drivers at SouthFuels are on strike due to an overtime allowance dispute.
The First Union members have been on strike since December 16 after requesting time and a quarter when working over 50 hours. It has been refused by the company, the union says.
First Union transport organiser Justin Wallace says recognition of overtime for a work week over 40 hours is standard for collective agreements in the industry.
“Recognition of long hours is compensation for drivers having hours taken away from their personal lives, they should be paid overtime allowances for anything over 40 hours but as a compromise, have increased that to 50.
“All they are asking for is less than standard compared to the rest of our collective contracts. Further, these drivers do not receive danger or risk money despite transporting explosive goods, they need to be compensated for the risks they take and the skills they have.
“We should be asking for more, long hours and lower pay has been normalised in the industry, but we are trying to make a compromise,” Wallace says.
SouthFuels acting chief executive Lance King says the company is “very disappointed that a small number of our staff who are First Union members have chosen to strike”.
“We have offered our First Union members a package of improvements to their existing terms and conditions of employment that would see them receiving on average an 5.9% increase in remuneration over the next 2 years however they have insisted that they should be paid overtime as well.
“The overtime claim alone would result in an average increase of between 8.0% and 11.0% over the same two year period and this is without the other changes we have offered being made. Our First Union member employees expectations are therefore very high when they want total increases of between 10.01% and 13.02%. The members are uncompromising on the overtime issue and have chosen to strike. We however need to be realistic about the costs of these claims which we consider are unrealistic,” King says.
