Source: Workers First Union
Waste Management, New Zealand’s largest materials recovery and recycling provider, is pushing ahead with making 23 rubbish truck drivers redundant and re-engaging 17 of them as owner-drivers.
Justin Wallace, Workers First organiser, says that the Auckland drivers who work for WM New Zealand will go from employees with job security, guaranteed hours, minimum wage protections, holidays, KiwiSaver contributions, a union and the right to bargain collectively, to “sham” contractors with no job protection or work rights, and a massive financial debt to the company to buy their rubbish truck. Mr Wallace said that buying the trucks would mean expected debts of “hundreds of thousands of dollars” for workers.
“This is a predatory scam enabled by the Government’s destruction of work rights through the Employment Relations Amendment Bill,” said Mr Wallace. “The councils around the country who tender services to WM New Zealand should be aware that this is how the company is planning to operate elsewhere, because we believe it will have major impacts on service delivery.”
“Waste Management are telling drivers they’re out of a job unless they can front up to buy their own garbage truck and pretend to be a contractor with their own business.”
“Drivers will be individually responsible for maintaining, repairing and upgrading their rubbish truck under the false pretence that they can use it for other business.”
“In reality, drivers will be working solely for Waste Management and their truck will wear that same brand and logo while they drive the same shifts they always have.”
“Having to give up your right to things like sick leave, guaranteed hours of work and collective bargaining just to stay in your job is not an acceptable trade-off.”
Joseph Allan, local board member for Manurewa, said he is concerned about how the trucks will be maintained and where the trucks will be parked overnight.
“It’s one thing to have courier vans parked all over our residential streets, but nobody wants a stinky rubbish truck parked outside their house,” said Mr Allan.
“What happens if the driver is sick? A big company might have spare trucks, a workshop, excess drivers. You lose the economy of scale.”
“Redundancies at a large company like this could lead to worse services for council ratepayers.”
WM New Zealand holds a 10-year contract with Auckland Council for kerbside collection in parts of Auckland. The current restructure pertains to East and South (Pakuranga to Manurewa), but the company has already restructured in the same way in other areas despite consistently negative feedback during consultation with drivers.
The union has contacted Auckland Regional Council and believes the company did not consult with the council about these changes, despite their contract having been awarded on the basis of their operation being set up to reliably and efficiently provide the services.
“We believe that services will suffer as a result of the company going from one large, cohesive business to a collection of tiny, separate ‘businesses’,” said Mr Wallace.
“Drivers will have to individually find cover when they are sick or want to take annual leave, whereas the already company had a pool of drivers available for these scenarios.”
“Auckland is a densely populated city, and the last thing Aucklanders want is rubbish sitting on the street uncollected because we no longer have a reliable system.”
Mr Wallace said WM New Zealand’s “dodgy” plan was part of a wider trend in the waste and recycling industry away from decent jobs to contractor status. He said that Enviro NZ has already adopted a similar proposal.