Why your delivery is late: Photos show PILES of undelivered packages as 2,500 more delivery people leave work to demand higher wages
- Deliveries will be affected after around 2,500 FedEx employees start a 24-hour strike
- Union says push to outsource causes precarious work crisis at FedEx
- Class action follows strike of up to 2,000 StarTrack employees last week
- Australians are already facing longer-than-usual wait times for deliveries
Thousands of workers from a major parcel delivery service have left their jobs across Australia, putting more pressure on the country’s extensive postal system.
Deliveries will be affected after about 2,500 FedEx employees start a 24-hour midnight strike for job security.
This follows a strike of up to 2,000 StarTrack employees last week, with workers at both companies taking action to end the outsourcing of work to contractors and companies like Amazon.
Thousands of workers at a major parcel delivery service have left their jobs across Australia, putting more pressure on the country’s extensive postal system
Australians are already facing longer-than-usual wait times for deliveries, with more people shopping online as stores are closed as much of the country suffers months of lockdowns during the crisis COVID-19.
Transportation Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine said a constant flow of courier work has been diverted to contractors in recent years.
He says the company has turned down demands for workers’ job security guarantees despite record net profits last year.
A recent poll of FedEx TWU members reported 97 percent support for the strike.
The TWU says the industry’s push to outsource is causing a precarious work crisis at FedEx, with some driver-owners currently being paid around 25 percent less to do the same work as employees.
Parcels at a FedEx distribution center in Erskine Park in Sydney, Thursday, September 30
Deliveries will be affected after around 2,500 FedEx employees start a 24-hour midnight strike for job security (pictured: Transport Workers Union protests outside FedEx Redbank in Brisbane)
The union says workers want job security, outside hiring ceilings, that existing employees be guaranteed work before outsourcing and for ‘same work, same pay’ provisions for the workers. hiring outside as employees.
FedEx said that while negotiations with the TWU are ongoing, it is disappointing that this step has been taken.
The delivery company said it pays higher wage rates and pensions than its competitors, and the current offering is just as competitive.
FedEx has agreed to reduce external hires where possible, but said TWU’s request for a rate increase to these external companies would not benefit their employees and job security.
It follows a strike of up to 2,000 StarTrack employees last week, with workers at both companies taking action to end the outsourcing of work to contractors and companies like Amazon (pictured: Transport Workers Union protests outside FedEx Redbank in Brisbane)
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