Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand

Over the next year or so New Zealand will experience the biggest changes in industrial relations since the passing of the Employment Contracts Act in 1991.

While it's not yet clear how much these will affect the road transport industry, it is worth getting our heads around what the Government's intentions are anyway.

The Government's big-ticket item is the establishment of a sector-wide bargaining system that would result in the development of Fair Pay Agreements.

These are really just a cute new name for industry or national awards that are being designed to set minimum terms and conditions for all workers in an entire indust...

THIS GOVERNMENT, AS SOON AS IT WAS elected, promised to be a government of change. Following a fairly slow first few months, we are now beginning to see what it meant by that – and for the road transport industry there are certainly going to be some challenging times ahead.

Now, don't for one minute think that I'm anti-change, as I'm not and – and, as a rule, neither should our industry be: The right kind of change can be a very good thing – and for incoming governments, especially after nine years in opposition, it's perfectly understandable that they want to come in and shake things up a little.

Having political parties enter Government looking to diffe...

Mid-Canterbury drivers might have to do a double-take to figure out why there's a locomotive parked off the railway tracks at the Hatfield-Overdale level crossing in Rakaia.

The life-sized locomotive billboard is actually part of the Expect Trains level crossing safety campaign aimed at increasing compliance with stop signs at level crossings and was installed at the crossing site last month.

The campaign, developed and funded jointly by the New Zealand Transport Agency, KiwiRail and TrackSAFE NZ, is based on research that found that drivers in rural areas can sometimes become complacent around railway level crossings.

"People told the researchers they often drive ...