Online shopping chaos as thousands of delivery workers walk off the job – putting more pressure on Australia’s delay-plagued postal system
- Deliveries will be affected after about 2,500 FedEx workers began 24-hour strike
- Union says push to outsourcing is causing an insecure work crisis at FedEx
- Industrial action follows a strike by up to 2,000 StarTrack employees last week
- Australians are already facing longer than usual wait times for deliveries
Thousands of workers at a major parcel delivery service have walked off the job across Australia, putting more pressure on the nation’s stretched postal system.
Deliveries will be affected after about 2,500 FedEx workers began a 24-hour strike at midnight over job security.
It follows a strike by up to 2,000 StarTrack employees last week with workers at both companies taking action to stop the outsourcing of work to contractors and companies like Amazon.
Thousands of workers at a major parcel delivery service have walked off the job across Australia, putting more pressure on the nation’s stretched postal system (pictured: Transport Workers Union protests outside FedEx Redbank in Brisbane)
Australians are already facing longer than usual wait times for deliveries, with more people shopping online while stores are closed as much of the country endures months of lockdown during the COVID-19 crisis.
Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine says a steady stream of courier work has been siphoned off to contractors over the past few years.
He says the company has refused workers’ requests for job security guarantees despite record net profits last year.
A recent ballot of FedEx TWU members returned a 97 per cent support for the strike.
The TWU says the industry-wide push to outsourcing is causing an insecure work crisis at FedEx, with some owner-drivers currently paid around 25 per cent less to do the same work as employees.
Deliveries will be affected after about 2,500 FedEx workers began a 24-hour strike at midnight over job security (pictured: Transport Workers Union protests outside FedEx Redbank in Brisbane)
The union says workers want job security, caps on outside hire, for existing employees to be guaranteed work before contracting out, and for ‘same job, same pay’ provisions for outside hire as employees.
FedEx said while negotiations with the TWU were ongoing it was disappointing this step was taken.
The delivery company said it pays higher wage rates and superannuation in comparison to its competitors, and the current offer is equally competitive.
FedEx has agreed to reduce outside hire where possible but said TWU’s demand for an increase in rates to these external companies would not benefit their employees and job security.
It follows a strike by up to 2,000 StarTrack employees last week with workers at both companies taking action to stop the outsourcing of work to contractors and companies like Amazon (pictured: Transport Workers Union protests outside FedEx Redbank in Brisbane)