Mud Carters Unite
TWU Mud Carters negotiations update
The TWU and the rank and file drivers committee have now held three meetings with the Plant Hires. The aim of these meetings has been to secure an agreement on rates and conditions that will allow owner drivers to a make a decent living. At our most recent meeting the following plant hires turned up; Fleet, Kingston, Go Green and ResourceCo, with Mad Bros being an apology. These companies broadly agreed that our claims are fair, but they are unable to sign up until the other plant hire companies commit to a similar arrangement.
We are at a crossroad in our campaign!
For Mud Carters to receive a safe and livable rate we need to secure commitment from all the Plant Hire's - in particular from Lantrak and EPH. The TWU will be holding a mass meeting of Mud Carters in the coming weeks to endorse a plan of action as part of our fight for safe and livable rate. The TWU will send text messages advertising our next meeting, or you can join the Facebook page Tipper Trucks Victoria for more information.
United we bargain, divided we beg!
For further information contact your delegate or your TWU Organisers Manny Spieri 0402 039 200 & Luke McCrone 0424 026 637.
Help us spread the word, download a PDF of the flyer
here
Tippers - your rates & chain of responsibility
ARE YOU BEING PAID THE RIGHT RATE?
Minimum rates of pay for Tip Truck Owner Drivers were agreed in a Memorandum of Understanding between Industry Plant Owners and the TWU Owner Drivers Committee of Tippers a number of years ago and effective from 01st July 2008! They are the minimum rates you should be expected to work for as an owner driver. They are;
TRUCK and TRAILER : All rates are based on a minimum 9 hours
Hourfv Rate: Clean Fill
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$130.00 per Hour
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Contract Rate (+20%)
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$1404.00 per day
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Rock Rate
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$140.00 per Hour
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Contract Rate (+20%)
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$1512.00 per day
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E.P.A Rate
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$155.00 per Hour
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Contract Rate (+20%) .
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$1674.00 per day
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TANDEM TIPPERS : All rates based on minimum 9 hours
Hourly Rate:
Clean Fill
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$85.00 per Hour
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Contract Rate
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$918,00 per day
|
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(+20%)
|
|
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$90,00 per Hour
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Contract Rate
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$972.00 per day
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Rock Rate
|
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(+20%)
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*
|
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$100.00 per Day
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Contract Rate
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$1080,00 per day
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E.P.A Rate
|
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(+20%)
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Before you accept a job you should ask what rates you are being hired on.
The full Memorandum of Understanding can be downloaded as a pdf
here.
Chain of Responsibility - "It's the Law"
Traditionally, Tip-truck drivers have worn the entire brunt for blame and penalties when a mishap has occurred on the road. New Changes to Road Safety law aimed at the heavy truck industry brings all those involved in the event under closer scrutiny.
The driver is in control of the vehicle on the road and has responsibilities to other road users. It is not intended that the chain of responsibility will remove these responsibilities, but will be clearly defined and limited to what they reasonably ought to be liable for. Truck drivers will have specific defences to ensure that the liability is not imposed unfairly. Drivers can identify /nominate those who directly or indirectly contributed, pressured, refused to listen to concerns, forced or coerced.
Chain of Responsibility (COR);Any party who has control in a transport operation can be held responsible and may be legally liable.
CONTROL = RESPONSIBILITY = LEGAL LIABILITYCONTRACTOR > SUPERVISOR > LOADER > AGENT > DRIVER > RECEIVERAt law, everybody involved will be held responsible and be accountable for their contribution to the mishap, not just the truckle. Can YOU justify to the VicPolice, Worksafe, Coroner, VicRoads & Unions that you had no part, actual or implied in the overloading or speeding?
Are you prepared to face jail for doing your job? Think beyond the obvious overloading and/or speeding fine and where the truckle is involved in a fatality.
Legislation includes special liability for individuals, corporations and organisations, keeping in line with Occupational Health & Safety, Corporation Laws and the Crimes Act (Vic)
Duty of Care / Due DiligenceDuty of care is at the centre of many legislative requirements including Chain of Responsibility (COR), OHS and the corner stone of common law in Australia. Duty of Care is an important legal concept that has long been used by the courts to impose liability in negligence or damages claims.
More so the Occupational Health & Safety Act (Vic);
Division 2 — Main duties of employers
21. Duties of employers to employees
(1) An employer must, so far as is reasonably practicable, provide and maintain for employees of the employer a working environment that is safe and without risks to health.Penalty: 1800 penalty units for a natural person; 9000 penalty units for a body corporate.
(2) Without limiting sub-section (1), an employer contravenes that sub-section if the employer fails to do any of the following —
(a) provide or maintain plant or systems of work that are, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health;
(b) make arrangements for ensuring, so far as is reasonably practicable, safety and the absence of risks to health in connection with the use, handling,
storage or transport of plant or substances;
(c) maintain, so far as is reasonably practicable, each workplace under the employer's management and control in a condition that is safe and without
risks to health;
(d) provide, so far as is reasonably practicable, adequate facilities for the welfare of employees at any workplace under the management and control of
the employer;
(e) provide such information, instruction, training or supervision to employees of the employer as is necessary to enable those persons to perform their work in a way that is safe and without risks to health.
(3) For the purposes of sub-sections (1) and (2)—
(a) a reference to an employee includes a reference to an independent contractor engaged by an employer and any employees of the independent contractor; and(b) the duties of an employer under those sub-sections extend to an independent contractor engaged by the employer, and any employees of theindependent contractor, in relation to matters over which the employer has control or would have control if not for any agreement purporting to limit or remove that control.(4) An offence against sub-section (1) is an indictable offence.
What does this mean?
Responsible person/s having control of any person or situation at a site must consider and undertake a process of identifying likely hazards that have a potential to cause death, injury or loss. Typically combinations of likely hazards are inappropriate supervision, loading control and incentive cartage rates
that may lead to speeding and overloading. At Law, people like "Site Forman" or cannot side step responsibility for overloading entirely onto the
truck driver. The Site Foreman acts on behalf of the employer and typically has hands-on responsibility for loading systems (Plant maintenance, loader Operators, access & egress, planning, traffic management, JSA's ...etc) Responsible persons that coerce, bully or harass a truck driver to "shut-up or
piss off" and book off protesting drivers will have a very limited, if any, legal defence and they become captured in the Chain of Responsibility (COR)
Agents and quoting personnel do NOT escape either. Those who set (accept) a price based on unrealistic / unachievable run times or base quotes on overloading are drawn into the same legal action.
Be mindful there is NO legal defence in claiming lack of knowledge or "no-one informed you" Machine/Plant Operators & Loaders are also exposed who receive instruction directly from the foreman/leading hand or refuse to heed advice from the drivers concerning vehicle load capacity leading
to overloading which may impact or cause Death, injury or loss
Prosecution - Chain of ResponsibilityA recent prosecution of parties other than the driver has occurred under the Chain of responsibility. It involved sustained overloading by a sand mining company. Because no injury was recorded, in addition to the usual fines for drivers the company also received a $35,000 court fine. The company was deemed to be responsible because it had access to loading dockets on a day to day basis and therefore it was assumed the managers would and should, have known the trucks were overloaded.
"DON'T BREAK THE CHAIN"If you ignore your legal responsibilities, you along with everyone else will face the same consequences at law, fines or jail.