Trust remains crucial in labour relations within the road freight sector, says Magretia Brown-Engelbrecht, a director at ADR Hub. As the industry returns to the negotiation table this year to discuss wage increases, it continues a 12-year tradition of peaceful negotiations.Speaking at the Road Freight Association (RFA) conference, Brown-Engelbrecht emphasised that employer loyalty was critical for operational success, even more so than assets. "In this industry, it's often all about the trucks. Yes, they are necessary and important to turn profits, but the greatest asset in any business is the people who work there. Creating a space that is conducive to employee happiness is important."She noted that fostering trust, respect, and understanding, along with creating environments where employees are happy, has been crucial in the road freight sector. This approach has directly resulted in smoother wage negotiations. "Our collective agreement under the bargaining council has been negotiated for the past 12 years without a strike linked to it. This success is not due to clever number-crunching but rather the trust built between the negotiating parties," she said. “There is a direct correlation between trust, harmony, productivity and profitability.” She encouraged the road freight sector to foster labour relations that support their employees, who in turn will support the business. "It will ref lect on your bottom line. For too long, employee relations have been overlooked in favour of profits. We need to change that and build on the positive progress we've made in our se c t or.
