Tradies push for driver demerit and toll relief, as shift workers call for childcare

Tradies are calling for expanded toll relief schemes and easing of driver demerit points while shift workers urge the government to provide childcare to help deal with the cost of doing business in Sydney. Take our poll.

Tradies are demanding the state government consider easing driver demerits while also providing toll relief to help with the soaring cost of doing business Sydney.

The state and federal governments have also been urged to trial 24-hour, council-run childcare along with cheaper, around-the-clock public transport for the state’s shift workers.

Dubbed the forgotten blue, pink and “fluoro” workers of the pandemic, Unions NSW is mounting a campaign on behalf of the workforce with a new report from the Labor-aligned McKell Institute to be handed to Treasurer Dominic Perrottet as a NSW Budget options paper.

The union body has also challenged the future NSW Labor leader to take up the cause as a way of reconnecting with the party’s traditional base.

The report declares tradies and shift workers as the state’s forgotten people of Covid, suffering significantly reduced incomes and work hours at the height of the pandemic.

By December last year, tradespeople, apprentices and labourers based in Greater Sydney were earning $143 million less each week due to the Covid-19 economic downturn, it said.

This 860,000-strong group makes up almost one-third of the NSW workforce.

There are calls for tradies to be given toll relief.

Shift workers — which include health, emergency services, security, transport, logistics, and other private industries — were dealt the double blow of having shifts cancelled while grappling with the increased risk of catching Covid-19 due to the nature of their jobs, the report said.

The report found the public transport cost burden has become higher for shift workers with more “white collars” now working from home.

For tradies, the report calls for expanded toll relief schemes and easing of driver demerit points for those who must work in multiple locations, such as offered to professional drivers.

Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey said the state’s tradies and shift workers not only “copped it” during the pandemic, but in the recovery faced insecurity and a constant financial gouge, just to do their job.

“Our blue, pink and fluoro collared workers are the backbone of the state,” Mr Morey said.

“The next Labor leader needs to reconnect with these workers by presenting real options to ease the cost of living and give them better access to childcare.

“It’s hard to get ahead when you’re crippled by tolls and you don’t know who is going to look after your kids.”

McKell Institute executive director Michael Buckland said the report had revealed disturbing trends about the NSW economy and workforce.

“If the relative burden of shiftwork and trades work continues to increase, skills and labour shortages will only increase and put the brakes on the state’s post-Covid recovery,” he said.

“These proposals deserve to be in the Budget and will have the benefit of attracting and retaining the workforce NSW needs.”

Plumber Glen Cheal, 47, said he once paid $120 in tolls after driving to various jobs around Sydney.

The father-of-two from Holsworthy said the lack of parking in parts of Sydney added an extra financial burden with tradies sometimes parking illegally out of desperation.

often taking risks attending to Sydney driving around Sydney to multiple attend to jobs.

“When it comes to parking, I’m one of those people that if you’re speeding, you’re speeding. But parking is another matter. When you’re a tradie, you’ve got tools, a ladder – you can’t park too far from a site,” Mr Cheal said.

“If you get a $130 fine and then you add in $30 of tolls, it gets you really angry. At the end of the day, you’re just trying to make a living.”

Plumber Rhys Zwickl, 34, from Penrith, recently began taking public transport to work to avoid the cost of tolls and parking, which added up to almost $100 per day.

Other tradies working at his Macquarie Park construction site were being towed after parking on nearby factory sites, he said.

The father-of-two said the new mode of transport was far from convenient, especially if heading out early.

“It was $30 in tolls for the M2 and M7 and $48 a day parking,” Mr Zwickl said.