The Transport Workers Union (TWU) has publically hit out at Coles and Woolworths, saying the supermarket giants are responsible for ‘lethal pressures in the trucking industry and across the entire supply chain’.

 

“What we are seeing at Coles stores across Australia is TWU members, together with their families and their communities, demanding the giant retailer finally take its responsibility for safety seriously. For too long now, Coles has been squeezing truckies, pressuring them to meet impossible deadlines, making them queue for hours unpaid to load and unload at distribution centres and to deliver their goods for a pittance.,” Tony Sheldon, National Secretary of the TWU.

 

“The results of these pressures are all too tragically apparent. Truck driving is Australia’s most dangerous industry, with a death rate ten times the industrial average. One in three workplace fatalities occur in trucking. 330 people are killed on average each year in truck crashes and more than 5300 are injured.”

 

Woolworths Chairman James Strong hit out at the comments, branding them as irresponsible.

 

"I think it is not the best way to approach a problem," Mr Strong told the ABC.

 

"That sort of using sensational terms seems to be a trademark of the TWU and it is a pity."