StarTrack strike looms as FedEx action delayed

The Australian Post subsidiary remains exposed to industrial action, but there has been a breakthrough in a FedEx dispute.

TWU members outside StarTrack in Minchinbury, Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Australian Post subsidiary StarTrack remains exposed to a 24-hour strike by employees from midnight, but the Transport Workers Union has suspended industrial action at FedEx until next week to allow for further talks on a new enterprise agreement.

The TWU said a proposed strike by BevChain workers on Thursday would not go ahead after an in-principle agreement was reached with the alcohol distributor.

StarTrack spokeswoman Michelle Skehan said while the company continuedto bargain in good faith, the TWU continues to “move the goalposts which is frustrating for our team members who simply want to get on with serving Australia”.

“At first it claimed it was about job security, and with a largely agreed approach there, it now claims it’s about pay. This is despite repeated public statements from TWU officials that this is not a wages dispute,” she said.

In addition to annual three per cent pay rises for three years, StarTrack said it had committed to promote job security through the full utilisation of permanent employees before the engagement of part-time, casual, labour hire or outside hire workers,

It had also committed to new auditing processes for outside hire companies, casual conversion after six months regular and systematic engagement, and labour hire conversion after 12 months regular and systematic engagement

“The key tenets of the TWU‘s claim have been in relation to secure work, fair wages and paying contractors who work alongside full-time team members the same wages,” Ms Skehan said.

“StarTrack has already met and indeed in many ways exceeds these requirements more so than other companies who have already agreed deals with the TWU.”

TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said StarTrack had refused several requests to meet with union officials.

“It‘s a tactical play designed to stretch out the period between enterprise agreements to avoid repaying hard work. The longer this is drawn out, the more StarTrack pockets,” he said.

“Workers won‘t allow their families’ futures to be held to ransom. As December looms, StarTrack expects workers to step up for an enormous Christmas period without certainty over their jobs, pay or conditions. That is no way to thank the workers who have generated record revenues while being attacked by their employer.”

The union has previously reached agreements with Toll, Global Express, Linfox, and logistics operators ACFS and Ceva.

Negotiations will resume between TWU and FedEx representatives on Thursday, with the union calling for a company offer which repays the restraint displayed by workers during the pandemic and “locks in iron-clad job security provisions”.

In a statement on Wednesday, FedEx said it was disappointed that the union had notified its intention to take industrial action on Monday if the talks did not result in an agreement.

“Despite trying our upmost to ensure deliveries continue, we are also concerned the industrial action will adversely impact customers and the community,” the company said. “This industrial action cannot come at a worse time for Australian businesses, many of whom are coming out of months of lockdown and require essential goods and services to restart operations before the year-end peak season.”

FedEx said it had tabled an offer which improved current employee entitlements and included a “fair wage and superannuation increase”.

“Where feasible, we have made a number of concessions to resolve approximately 90% of the TWU’s claims,” it said.

FedEx has committed to reduce use of outside hire where we are able. However, in the course of doing our business, we do face situations such as annual leave and peak periods where it is necessary to engage outside hire to meet our delivery commitments and provide industry leading service to our customers.”

The company said it anticipated some service impact if the industrial action went ahead.

“As a logistics business, we are also facing considerable impact due to the ongoing pandemic,” it said.

“The recent depot closures on account of COVID-19 caused disruption to our service. Any further industrial action will add to the disruption for team members and businesses looking to recover.”