TWU applies for historic improvements across cabin crew

We’ve now won a historic order that, for the first time, forces wealthy transport clients to pay their fair share.

In early March, conflict in the Middle East saw fuel prices, especially diesel, skyrocket. Almost overnight, thousands of owner drivers and transport businesses were at threat of collapse, as they saw their fuel bills double.

The TWU took immediate action, bringing together industry groups and using laws won by members to start addressing the crisis.

1. Wrote to Fair Work Commission

We wrote to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to urgently bring the transport industry together. Though some clients were coming to the table with solutions, others were refusing to pay their fair share—some telling transport operators where they could take out personal loans to pay the huge fuel spikes.

But with a six-month waiting period for the system, we knew that we need a quicker solution—so we set out to change the laws.

2. Changed the laws

We called on the Federal Government to pass laws to allow urgent FWC orders in road transport, to expedite the process.

With huge pressure from the TWU and other parts of the industry in a united push, the Federal Government quickly passed these changes.

Critical to this was a delegation of TWU members to Canberra to tell their stories to politicians and explain why the changes were so urgent.

Watch TWU member Zak O’Brien talk about the importance of clients paying up for fuel.

3. Won historic Fair Work Commission order

Soon after the laws were passed, we made an application (with the ARTIO and NRFA) in the FWC, and called on Minister Amanda Rishworth to use the newly-granted emergency powers to fast-track the application.

On April 20, we had a huge win: the first Contract Chain Order under the system we won, now forcing transport clients to pay their fair share for fuel.

A win led by members

The arguments of employer groups and their battalions of lawyers were drowned out by the huge efforts of members calling for this order through:

• Speaking to politicians
• Giving evidence
• Turning up at the Fair Work Commission to keep the pressure up
• Appearing in press conferences, media stories and social media 

This is just the start

In 2026, tens of thousands of TWU members are joining for our biggest industrial campaign ever. We’re building the power to lift standards right across our industries and calling for wealthy clients to pay up for decent, safe jobs.

Find out more about our 2026 fight for our roads, our skies and our future.