About
Safe Rates is a campaign led by FIRST Union which calls on the New Zealand Government to implement a Safe Rates system in Aotearoa.
A Safe Rates system is a legal and regulatory framework that makes clients (or economic employers) responsible for fair rates of pay, working conditions and safety throughout the supply chains they control.
Clients at the top of supply chains are financially squeezing transport contracts through deregulated competitive tendering. These economic employers are awarding contracts to ‘lowest cost’ transport operators with little or no regard to how costs are saved.
It means transport companies are forced to undercut each other to win work. For operators to survive, pay, conditions and safety are all cut, including truck maintenance and fatigue management. It results in transport workers pressured to work harder, longer and faster to make ends meet.