Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President, and thank you, Senator Brandis. I appreciate your giving me the call; I have to be somewhere else. I want to take this opportunity to report to the Senate on a recent visit to the United States of America that I took to examine the challenges facing the North American road transport industry. As many of you in this chamber and in this building would know, I am a very passionate and proud supporter of our transport industry, having spent many years as an owner-driver hauling furniture throughout this great country.

In the USA the basic wage is just $7.50 per hour, and we know the parity between the Australian dollar and the American dollar is quite frightening. In California it is slightly better, I believe about $8.50 an hour. There is a marked distinction in the USA between union and non-union workers' wages and conditions. I had the absolute pleasure of attending the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Western Organizers Conference in Los Angeles. It might come as a shock to those opposite but I am a very passionate supporter of the Teamsters. I was honoured to meet some of the leading lights of the American International Brotherhood of Teamsters. I will just name a few. There was Mr Jimmy Hoffa, the general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a fantastic person. I wish that President Hoffa does come Down Under very soon.

David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Hear, hear!

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I acknowledge Senator Feeney's response. I would like to mention a few more very worthwhile people that looked after me in the United States: Tim Beaty, Director of Global Strategies; and Jeff Farmer, Director of Organising, who I have had the pleasure of meeting on a number of occasions. Jeff has been a visitor to Australia. Others were Dan Sullivan from Washington, an organiser with the Teamsters; Jason Gately, an international organiser out there in Las Vegas; Mike Magnani, secretary/treasurer of Local 995; Larry Griffith, secretary/treasurer of Local 14;    Bob Morales, secretary/treasurer of Local 350 in Daly City, California; and a very good friend of mine, Rudy Gonzalez, from Local 856 in San Francisco.

While at the conference I was given the opportunity to attend a Teamster organised rally in the streets of Los Angeles.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can just see you there, Glenn.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Brandis, I proudly had my Teamsters shirt on saying, 'Our job, our community: let the fight begin.' I did join the rally of 30,000 people, teamsters and people from all walks, all professions, and proudly supported by other unions and other workers. The reason for the rally in Los Angeles is that, as you would know, Mr Acting Deputy President, financially and economically America has its challenges but unfortunately, as is normal with most reactions to these situations, there is a Republican governor in Wisconsin named Scott Walker. To cut a very long story short, as we have seen here before, if the economy is lagging, if things are looking bad, where are the first cuts targeted? Where else but workers. Anyway, I believe that when the announcement came to strip Wisconsin public sector workers of their right to collectively bargain and also be covered by a union negotiated agreement, 130,000 people attended a rally in Wisconsin. The fight is going on. Unfortunately for the good folk of Wisconsin in the public sector, the Republican senators voted in favour of stripping their rights and conditions in the workplace. Hence the Teamsters have sent a very loud message to the city of Los Angeles that if any of those shenanigans were to happen there would be a warning fired across the bow to show that Californians would not take it lying down.

The disturbing reality is that in the United States, if it is your job to safely command the wheel of a 40-tonne truck with a container full of hazardous materials or imported consumer goods from the wharf to the warehouse, you only can expect to earn $US28,000 a year, which equates to $26,500 here. I know that sounds hard to believe but the harsh reality is that it is a fact: 40-tonne semi drivers on $A26,500 a year. It is frightening. I ask senators and those listening to imagine that hauling everything from mattresses, MP3 players, televisions and tennis shoes to fuel and other vital services was a minimum wage job without a union or a contract in Australia. Unthinkable, but sadly in America it happens. In America, the thought that you would have access to health care and a pension for working in such a dangerous job but in an important industry in the global economy is a joke. It is not a very funny joke but I could not think of another word. There are over 110,000 port drivers in the US who, sadly, are devalued this way.

I raise this now, with so much economic injustice in the world, because one of the culprits behind this American exploitation of truck drivers is an Australian company, Toll Group, which operates at US ports in Los Angeles, New York and Miami. Literally, the working conditions it imposes on workers are nothing short of disgraceful. Toll Group truck drivers do not even have access to clean and safe rest room facilities. Their options for relieving themselves include going on the side of the road—and we are not talking out in the middle of nowhere, somewhere between Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing; we are talking suburban Los Angeles—or using a plastic bottle in the cab of their truck. This is incredible but this is what is happening. This is because their company, Toll subsidiary FMI, merely provides them a filthy toilet and actually bars them from using the clean indoor facilities that its non-truck-driver employees are freely allowed to enjoy. So we have a responsibility to raise our voices, as the workers in America raise theirs, and demand justice on the job. There may be some cynicism in this chamber about how I know. I will tell you how I know. I had the privilege of meeting about 15 port truck drivers employed by the Toll Group subsidiary FMI in Los Angeles. I will call one of them I met 'John'. I do not want to use his real name, because Toll has hired a union buster and has started intimidating drivers because they want to address their poor conditions by joining a labour union.

John is one of over 12,000 port truck drivers responsible for moving extremely heavy cargo containers every day, filled with billions of dollars worth of goods, through America's most enormous port complex in Los Angeles. It is very disappointing to me that John, a father of two, one of which is still in nappies, has hauled containers off the port for the last 13 years but is not rewarded for his work to keep the global economy moving. For the last few years he has been responsible for moving fashion products, brands such as Macy's, Guess and Under Armour, from US shores to American stores. His hard work and that of his compatriots earn Toll a very healthy profit. But, sadly, John is not allowed access to company toilets. In this day and age, that is incomprehensible. He is not even allowed to use the employee break room to make a cup of coffee before a long shift, nor is he allowed to access that facility to heat or refrigerate his food before he starts work. Only truck drivers are denied the dignity to sit and eat their meals during their rest breaks. John often loses loads and hours to other employees because the company dispatches work based on favouritism rather than on equitable policy that drivers can rely on for full-time work that guarantees that they can feed their families. That is just disgraceful.

John and his co-workers are very skilled port truck drivers, committed to providing quality service and the highest degree of professionalism, just like our Aussie drivers. Despite their hard work to help the company grow and succeed, the Toll Group denies its truck drivers in the US the rights and freedoms its employees in Australia enjoy. It is our responsibility to ensure that Toll, that great Australian company, upholds Australian values, no matter where it operates. We must help John and his co-workers achieve the labour standards that Toll Group workers receive here in Australia. We cannot protect model standards in the global economy if we do not do our part to put an end to the abuse and injustice that these workers face elsewhere.

But, instead of addressing these concerns as they expand to America, Toll show what they truly think of their workers. Toll want to prevent their drivers from joining the Teamsters Union. The Teamsters Union has been engaged in a remarkable campaign for several years to bring dignity and respect to drivers across America. Toll are able to deny these drivers their right to join the Teamsters because of the legislation that is in place that restricts the good work that unions do in America. In Australia, through hard-fought negotiations with the Transport Workers Union and other labour unions, Toll provide their workers with fair wages and conditions. That is a testament to the legislation put in place by Labor governments to ensure the rights of workers to bargain collectively, as well as the long fight of the labour movement to ensure that workers rights are and always will be protected under a Labor government in their workplace. Madam Acting Deputy President, it is not a throwaway line, but the fight continues.

We have already seen the spectre of the return to Work Choices by the Leader of the Opposition, who, as we clearly know, does not think there was anything wrong with Work Choices—those were his words—only that it was not properly sold to the electorate. He is now joined by the member for Bennelong, a former tennis player, who, I am sure, is not short of a quid—and, if he is not, good luck to him—and in order to secure his standing in the Liberal Party has called for the stripping of penalty rates because they are getting in the way of company profits.

If the extremist policies of those opposite are allowed to be enacted into law, then it will only be a matter of time before the industry will take advantage and safe wages and conditions will become the exception, rather than the standards that Australian workers enjoy today. This is why I will work with the Transport Workers Union to help these American workers, as part of my commitment to uphold the standards for Australia's transport workers, to protect and improve their livelihoods.

Senator Williams interjecting—

I stand with our national secretary, Tony Sheldon, and with our national assistant secretary, Michael Cain, and with all TWU members in this fight. May I—through you, Madam Acting Deputy President—also encourage Senator Williams over there, from the Nationals, who, as soon as I started talking about 'safe rates' has not stopped gobbing off, to make a contribution, through you, in this chamber on what he may think of transport workers, their wages and their conditions. I would be very keen to hear that, because he was not cheering and supporting the TWU's fine work through their negotiating skills to look after Australia's truck drivers and keep them safe on Australian roads. You defend your statements, Senator Williams. Stand up here and grab something to give you some machismo to defend why Australian truckies should not be paid a decent, safe wage. I wear this yellow wristband in solidarity with America's truck drivers employed by Toll. It is a symbol of their fight for freedom to unite and speak together as one voice at work so they have the chance to build a better life for themselves and their children. Before I wrap up, there are a few fantastic people I wish to acknowledge: Mr Fred Potter, Vice President At-Large of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; Mr Manny Valenzuela, western region organising coordinator in California—Manny, thank you, mate, for taking me around and introducing me to a fantastic cohort of truck drivers and Teamsters members in California; and Mr Nick Weiner, National Campaigns Coordinator of Change to Win. I challenge everyone in this chamber to show some strength, show some dignity and stand up for truck drivers. Let us support our brothers in the United States of America—that great fighter for freedom floating out there with disgusting conditions, where Australian companies as well can exploit the hardworking men and women in the American transport industry.