With news that Aramex courier drivers, who are misclassified as independent contractors due to a legal loophole, are considering strike action, it’s time that the Government took action to fix a broken system and implement recommendations put forward by numerous experts, FIRST Union said today.

"Aramex exemplifies what happens when a legal loophole that lets companies classify permanent employees as independent contractors plays out in the real world," said Anita Rosentreter, FIRST Union Strategic Project Coordinator.

"The company seduces drivers with the promise of owning their own business but ends up charging them a small fortune, burns them out to exhaustion, destroys their mental health and then effectively

gives them no choice but to sell the routes they’ve built back to the company."

"They work obscenely long shifts and put themselves at severe risk on the road just to earn a take-home pay that often comes in under minimum wage."

The Labour Inspectorate launched a campaign last year urging courier drivers to come forward with concerns about their employment status, following an Employment Court finding that a courier driver working for Parcel Express was actually an employee and not a contractor to the company. Employees have important minimum protections under the law, while independent contractors do not.

"The Government already knows and understands the issue based on the many recommendations made to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Better Protections for Contractors Working Group, which reported its submissions two years ago from this week - action is long overdue," said Ms Rosentreter.

"Talk of a 24-hour strike by members of the Australian Transport Workers Union in recent weeks shows that courier drivers are aware of the scam they’ve been caught up in and their New Zealand counterparts share many of the same experiences."

Peter Gallagher, Chief Executive of Pro Drive - a group representing Aramex drivers - said last week that collective action was on the table, and Ms Rosentreter urged the Government to do the right thing and fix the fundamental problem before full-scale strike action further disrupted the supply chain during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"These Aramex drivers have seen the worst of it, but this problem exists in many industries - from transport and logistics firms to builders, gig workers and hotel cleaners," said Ms Rosentreter.

"The underlying problem is that firms still have the option to misclassify employees as contractors and save themselves money by denying workers basic employment protections like earning a minimum wage, taking sick leave and the right to join a union."

"It’s a predatory system that thrives on human misery, and we can do better in Aotearoa - now’s the time to act."

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