Opinion: Generation Next?

According to Bruce Honeywill, it's no surprise the young 'uns are turning their backs on the road transport industry…

School holidays in Queensland. My grandson, in the lower half of teens, is employed in a large workshop that employs his Dad. Bottom of the heap, sweeping floors, tidying up, sorting screws and nuts and bolts into various containers. Getting tools into the right place. Copping the odd joke from the older fellas. Learning to give a bit back without going too far.

Crap work but he’s loving it. It's just for the holidays and he gets to put a bit of cash aside for the latest fingle-fangle he needs for his BMX. A little story of young fellas, kids, exploring the workforce all over the country.

There is something that rings true to me about a kid going into an adult workplace. Perhaps the more usual holiday work concerns fast-food chains and similar businesses that take advantage of low hourly rates. Often young workers mix with others of a similar age supervised by a senior filling the boots of a teacher – not so different from the school environment.

It's probably not appropriate to say so these days, but there's something healthy for a young fella to be introduced to a workplace with people of diverse ages and attitudes. Young men, middle-aged men, gnarly old fellas. Different outlooks – bright optimism, sour whinging, just-doing-your-daily-bit types, pranksters and so forth. A kid learns there are all sorts of people in a workplace and learns to navigate through and around moods. Learning the routine of work at a young age sticks for life.

Perhaps this is the downfall of the road transport industry, now suffering from a shortage of truck drivers. An industry where the average age of drivers in many fleets is above fifty. An industry with a traditionally high turnover of staff. Where are the young men and women coming from to replace the ageing operators?

The Industry does its best. The big companies have their training initiatives. But where's the incentive for young people being educated in this age of entitlement, where kids believe they are training for the end job, management, rather than for the bottom of the hierarchy?

In the US, the American Trucking Association estimates there is a shortfall of 30,000 truck drivers. It says factors driving the shortfall include regulations, relatively low pay, and simply fewer young people who are interested in getting into the profession.

In a survey, 90 per cent of US carriers said they can't find enough drivers and the annual turnover of drivers in the long-haul sector varies between 92 per cent and 135 per cent.

On a pro-rata basis, I see daily evidence that road transport in Australia reflects the American research. Money attracts many newcomers to truck driving. Knock over an HR licence and then, a year later, go to a training school and for a bit over a grand the instructor will wheel you around town in an unloaded B-Double flatbed. Pass the test and you've got an MC licence in your hand after potentially never steering anything more than an outfit with a GCM of 15 or 20 tonnes.

The scary thing is, that same bloke can then get on the blower and apply for a job – and get it – steering an outfit with three trailers grossing well over 100 tonnes. These are some of the blokes coming at us out of the night.

Many don't last long – it's bloody hard work – but companies are forced to take them on and they make up the 'tail' of drivers in a fleet. The group where most often things go wrong.

Brings me back to my grandson working in the workshop… Today that can't happen in a truck yard. With all the regulation, insurance requirements, health and safety and so forth, there are no young teenagers learning the ropes from older fellas, being part of the trucking workplace, copping a bit of stick and giving it back. And, most of all, there are no youngsters beaming in a cinemascope grin when allowed to drive a prime mover around the yard to refuel or hook up. This is where the best drivers I know did their informal apprenticeship.

Today a young person, boy or girl, can't travel with a parent working in a fleet. Can't get a taste for a life that offers reasonable income and the freedom of the road.

Formal training is necessary, TAFE and Cert this and that – no argument there. But back in the day, trucking was probably the most passionate workplace in the country with movies, songs and magazines supporting the lifestyle. To get young people into what is a bloody hard job the industry needs to get the passion back … through involvement with our young ones.

Opinion: Generation Next?

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