The Transport Workers' Union says Coles is putting lethal deadline pressure on truck drivers. Source: AAP
A TRANSPORT union which says Coles risks lives by pressuring truck drivers to meet tight deadlines is staging protests aimed at the supermarket giant's shareholders as well as customers.
Transport Workers' Union (TWU) members turned out for a small protest near a Sydney CBD Coles store on Wednesday, ahead of the annual general meeting of Wesfarmers, the owner of Coles, in Perth.
Acting TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said it was one of several rallies around the country drawing a link between Coles and deaths on Australian roads.
"We're saying to shareholders that, while the company is telling you Coles is winning the price war ... the cost of that war is absolute tragedy for Australians," Mr Kaine said.
He said 330 people die in Australian truck crashes each year.
A TWU report found 80 per cent of surveyed truck drivers carrying freight for Coles believed pressure from the company led to unsafe on-road practices. Half said they had been forced to delay vehicle maintenance.
Mr Kaine told AAP the company could afford to address supply chain hazards, even though most drivers were not directly employed by Coles.
"This is the standard line from major retailers and particularly Coles, that they don't have control, it's not their responsibility," he said.
"But of course it is. They have absolute and supreme economic control. Any supplier who tries to cross them is ostracised. The commercial retribution is instant and fatal for those companies."
Wearing shirts that aped the supermarket's 'big red hand' logo, the dozen-odd TWU members at Wednesday's lunchtime rally sang to bemused city workers passing by.
"I don't know but I've been told, life is tough out on the road. Coles we know you are to blame, pushing safety down the chain," they chorused.
The union planned to put questions on supply chain safety to the Wesfarmers board later on Wednesday, Mr Kaine said.
Coles spokesman Jim Cooper told AAP, "Our transport business is managed by large and reputable transport providers such as Linfox and Toll, who are very proud of their safety record.
"In no way do our transport contracts with such companies force drivers into unsafe or illegal practices."
In a statement, the company said only 35 deaths involving trucks in 2011 were related to the food and liquor industry, and none of these involved deliveries to Coles.
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