The Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal has made its first road safety remuneration order (RSRO). The agency says the RSRO comes after extensive consultation with interested stakeholders in the road transport industry over the past 12 months.
The tribunal’s first RSRO takes effect from 1 May 2014. The RSRO applies to a road transport driver employed or engaged in:
The road transport and distribution industry within the meaning of the Road Transport and Distribution Award 2010 as in force on 1 July 2012, in respect of the provision by the road transport driver of a road transport service wholly or substantially in relation to goods, wares, merchandise, material or anything whatsoever destined for sale or hire by a supermarket chain, or long-distance operations in the private transport industry within the meaning of the Road Transport (Long Distance Operations) Award 2010 as in force on 1 July 2012.
It sets out minimum entitlements and requirements for these road transport drivers, their employers or hirers, as well as to participants in the supply chain.
The RSRO sets out requirements regarding:
Payment time within 30 days of a received invoice for contractor drivers. Written contracts for road transport drivers, which may be in an electronic format. Contracts between supply chain participants. Safe driving plans for drivers undertaking long distance operations in a motor vehicle with a gross vehicle mass (GVM) of more than 4.5 tonnes. Training in work health and safety. Drug and alcohol policies. Dispute resolution and adverse conduct protection.
The RSRO is based on a draft RSRO published by the tribunal on 12 July 2013. Subsequent hearings, submissions and comments made by the industry and other stakeholders also formed part of the tribunal’s decision making process.
In its decision, the Full Bench stated that “the making of a RSRO in at least some form was widely supported” by a broad cross-section of the road transport industry.
The Full Bench also stated that “the issue of rates of payment for road transport drivers is to be the subject of future proceedings of the tribunal and so is not dealt with in this decision. Those future proceedings will also consider associated issues, such as methods for dealing with the issue, forms of payment and what constitutes work.”
After the RSRO comes into effect, the tribunal will have the power to approve road transport collective agreements. A road transport collective agreement is an agreement between contractor drivers and the hirer or potential hirer of the drivers.
An agreement can provide specific remuneration and/or related conditions for any drivers and hirers covered by the agreement.
