Big win for truck drivers at Port

Truck drivers at Port Botany are the big winners under the new Port Botany Landslide Improvement Strategy (PBLIS) announced by NSW Ports Minister Paul McLeay recently.

TWU State Secretary Wayne Forno said,

“What this means for truck drivers at the Port is that they will finally be paid for waiting times by the stevedores, who now have incentive to uphold their responsibility of getting truck drivers through quickly to do their job – or pay them for waiting.

“Before these reforms truck drivers had to queue at the port unpaid while the stevedore called the shots and everything happened at their beck and call.

 “There is more to be done at the port in the way of basic facilities for drivers, which we expect to see put in place soon.”

“This is a great win for our drivers, but they’re still waiting for facilities as basic as a first world toilet.”

Under the new PBLIS truck carriers receive a penalty payment if stevedores fail to meet the regulated standards.

Before the reforms there were no incentives for stevedores to service trucks at their allocated booking and furthermore:

• If a truck was late or did not arrive, they paid a penalty to the stevedore.
•  If a stevedore did not service as truck or was late in servicing a truck there was no penalty and the transport operator carried the cost of waiting.

PBLIS rectified this by implementing new regulations and penalty payments that mean:

• The stevedore must pay transport operator $25 for every 15 minute delay; $100 for a cancelled slot if cancelled within 2 hours of the slot or $50 for a cancelled slot outside this period; and
•  The transport operator must pay the stevedore $50 for a late arrival; and $100 for a no show.