On 1 July 2012, the Road Safety Remuneration Act 2012 (Cth) (Act) came in to force imposing requirements on employers across the road transport industry to meet new remuneration and employment standards for their drivers. Importantly, one of the main functions of the Act was the establishment of the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (the Tribunal) which, due to a late amendment to the Act, only recently came into operation on 1 January 2013.
The Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal
The Tribunal is comprised of both industry members and members of the Fair Work Commission and has been granted a very broad range of powers to make orders relating to the remuneration and employment conditions of both employee and independent road transport drivers. These powers grant the Tribunal the ability to solve disputes, approve collective agreements and make orders relating to minimum pay, entitlements, working hours, payment methods, load limits and waiting times.
After a process involving submissions from various stakeholders in December last year, the Tribunal has identified five sectors in which it plans to limit its first annual work program in 2013. These include the retail, livestock, bulk grain, interstate long distance and intrastate long distance sectors.
Please see full publication below for more information.