Another round of industrial action is set to hit the delivery sector as the Transport Workers Union plans rolling strikes in Western Australia and NSW starting Monday.
About 200 TWU members of the 350-strong workforce at the Welshpool FedEx site could potentially stop work next week to fight for increased wages and superannuation.
The union says rolling four-hour stoppages will start from next week after ongoing bargaining with FedEx allegedly broke down.
TWU official organiser for WA Chris Nelson said FedEx planed to lock workers out if they took strike action.
“It got quite nasty, we were prepared to bargain but they’re just not moving,” Mr Nelson told Business News.
“The company has made it clear they are not interested to meet with us anymore.”
Employees are campaigning for pay increases they say they are entitled to after deferring bargaining agreements in “good faith” during 2020 for 12 months to keep the business running during the pandemic.
“But the company thinks we’ve agreed to a wage freeze,” Mr Nelson said.
“The company is threatening to take away any back pay for this year still not paying anything for 2020.”
“We’ve got 200 members at the Perth site and we’d like to think the majority would support the action.”
FedEx and the union have been bargaining for six months and have staged two 24-hour stoppages in the last two months, it is understood.
“All the other majors have come to the party and made agreements," Mr Nelson said.
“FedEx is the only one holding out.”
Other delivery majors including Toll, Global Express, Linfox and StarTrack have all settled deals with their workers to lock in job security and offer pay rises with an inflation safety net, according to TWU.
Further strikes are set to occur throughout the week with Victoria and Tasmania planning across the Strikes for Tuesday in Victoria and Tasmania, and Queensland and South Australia on Wednesday.
