AWU Members are taking this action for one reason: they cannot get a fair agreement out of DTP to replace an expired enterprise agreement.

The Australian Workers’ Union rejects in the strongest terms the characterisation of the AWU as a “rogue union”. Our members are not rogues. They are the people who pull over when everyone else drives past.

The Victorian Government has never been shy about praising this workforce when it suits.

In its own media releases, the government has described the Incident Response Service as being “there to lend a hand when you need them most”, credited these workers with making Melbourne’s busiest roads safer and more reliable, and celebrated the service for clearing incidents quickly and keeping Victorians moving [3].

The government’s own websites boast that these crews respond to around 90 incidents a day, typically within five minutes, that every officer is trained in first aid including CPR, and that they provide calm and compassionate assistance to stranded and unwell motorists [1]. A government spokesperson has publicly acknowledged that these crews are often first to arrive at crashes and face greater risk when motorists don’t slow down [2].

The government knows exactly who these workers are and what they do. It has put out media releases celebrating them. The only thing missing is a fair agreement that reflects the work.

This is lawful, protected industrial action under the Fair Work Act 2009. The Department of Transport and Planning was formally notified before any action commenced, exactly as the law requires. The Department has known this was coming and has had every opportunity to fix it.

Is it inconvenient? Yes. Downright tedious? Absolutely.

We know it frustrates people who have nothing to do with this dispute, and we don’t pretend otherwise. That is what industrial action is. That is the whole point. Standing up, exercising your rights, and doing what you can within the law to change your workplace for your family and your future. That right belongs to every Victorian worker, including the ones who respond when your car breaks down, or you are in a serious accident.

What is illegal is getting sick of waiting and cutting up the emergency lane. That is against the road rules, and it is dangerous. The emergency lane is where our members are working, where broken-down drivers are standing, and where emergency services need clear access. Every driver who ducks into it to jump the queue is aiming a vehicle at people on foot.

AWU Members are taking this action for one reason: they cannot get a fair agreement out of DTP to replace an expired enterprise agreement.

The claims, and the facts

“How many accidents have you refused to attend?”

None. Not one. Ever.

That accusation is baseless and it is offensive. Our members attend every incident they are tasked to, around 90 a day on the government’s own figures [1]. They are frequently first on scene before police, fire or ambulance arrive, including fatalities.

“They close three of four lanes at every breakdown and minor bingle.”

Not fact. Not even close.

Additional lane closures form part of the protected industrial action, and that action takes place only during notified times. It does not happen at every incident, and it does not happen around the clock. On the government’s own figures, these crews attend around 90 incidents a day [1]. The overwhelming majority are handled exactly as they always have been, with standard traffic management.

Even within notified action times, safety still decides. Every scene gets a dynamic risk assessment: the nature of the incident, its location, and the risk to the stranded motorist, the responder and passing traffic. If taking the action at a particular scene is not safe, it is not taken. At all times, at least one lane remains open, and all work is performed in accordance with the traffic management and safety requirements that protect road workers and the travelling public alike.

And outside those notified times, any closure motorists encounter is simply the job: the same risk-assessed traffic management that has always applied. Three cars sitting in the middle lane of the Monash is not a “minor bingle”, and it would draw a multi-lane closure with or without a dispute. There is no routine job in live traffic. The lane closure that annoys you for ten minutes is the same one that gets a worker home to their kids.

“The public isn’t told where and when, unlike teachers or nurses.”

Teachers know where the school is. Nobody knows where the next crash will be. That is the nature of incident response: it is unplanned.

Motorists should be, and continue to be, informed of closures through the same traffic channels they use every day, operated by the Department of Transport and Planning and VicRoads, including VicTraffic. Real-time traffic information is those agencies’ responsibility, and it remains available to every road user exactly as it always has. If motorists aren’t getting timely information, that question belongs with DTP, not with the workers.

“They’re just angry about RDOs and overtime.”

The union entered bargaining in November last year. At the outset, members were told the roster would not change. Then, months later in the tenth bargaining meeting, DTP surprised everyone by introducing a claim for a 24/7 roster it had earlier said it wasn’t interested in. That is not good faith bargaining, and it is not bargaining in line with Victorian Government policy.

Despite that, members agreed to absorb the 24/7 roster. That is not the position of a militant union; that is a workforce meeting its employer more than halfway. What members have asked for in return is additional leave that recognises what a 24/7 roster takes from their families, and what this job takes from them. That is the one thing DTP will not budge on.

And underneath it all: DTP is offering less than it is funded to provide under the Victorian Government’s own wages policy, while stripping 13 Rostered Days Off, cutting paid leave and wiping out all rostered overtime. DTP pockets the savings and the benefits of the roster it demanded. Workers carry the cost.

“That’s someone aiming a car at us”

Since this coverage began, abuse of our members at incident scenes has escalated sharply, and much of it is happening outside protected action hours.

Let’s be clear. Not every incident is industrial action. Protected action takes place only between notified times, and even within those times it will not be taken where it is unsafe to do so. Safety always comes first. All other closures motorists do encounter is business as usual: workers responding to breakdowns and collisions to keep the road safe.

These members are, a high percentage of the time, first on scene. Often, they have no idea how traumatic a scene will be until they are within metres of the vehicle. This is not just picking up debris or changing a tyre. The job spans deaths and fatal accidents, rendering first aid, supporting a person in mental health crisis, and reassuring a shaken driver stranded in live traffic. The same worker who holds a stranger’s hand at a breakdown is the one who arrives first at a fatality.

It is high pressure work carried out metres from moving vehicles. What these members are asking of their employer is not a huge ask.

Misinformation that paints every closure as a union tactic is aiming public anger at the very people who run toward these scenes.

Industrial action is a huge part of the democratic movement in this country. The eight-hour day, weekends, penalty rates, sick leave, safe workplaces: none of it was handed down out of generosity. All of it was won by workers who stood together, withdrew their labour, and copped criticism at the time for doing so.

When workers exercising that same lawful right in 2026 are labelled “rogue” or “militant” across this state, that is not commentary. It is an attempt to delegitimise one of the oldest democratic rights working people have. You can disagree with a claim. You can be frustrated by a lane closure. But branding workers militant for lawfully standing up for their families and their future is not the right way to respond.

The members taking this action are not radicals. They are people who get up and go to work every day and, like many first responders, don’t know what their day will bring. They are asking their employer for a fair agreement, nothing more.

The next negotiation is tomorrow (Wednesday). The union will be at the table, ready to settle. The fastest way to end this dispute, and every lane closure that comes with it, is for DTP to arrive with a fair offer and bargain in good faith for the members who keep Victoria’s roads safe and functioning. The union is ready to settle today. The question is whether DTP is.

If you or anyone you know needs support, Lifeline is available 24 hours on 13 11 14.

References

[1] Victorian Government, Smarter Roads program, “Incident Response”, smarterroads.vic.gov.au/vicroads/smarter-roads/incident-response. Note: the page reports more than 100,000 incidents since January 2020 at an average of 90 per day; the publication date suggests the figure is from around 2022, so the current daily average may be higher.

[2] Victorian Government spokesperson, quoted in Star News Group (Cranbourne Star News), “Responses to respondents to be monitored”, 31 May 2022, regarding the IRS warning-lights trial.

[3] Premier of Victoria media centre, “Clearing Congestion With Expanded Incident Response Service”, 11 November 2021, premier.vic.gov.au/clearing-congestion-expanded-incident-response-service.