Closed roads and long detours have become increasingly common for veteran truckie Frank Black.
As an owner-driver, one of the downsides of his flexible work is that he generally picks up the tab for any unexpected costs.
He was once forced to fork out an extra $700 in fuel to go the long way after heavy rain and flooding cut off his direct route.
“You’ve got to start weighing up, do you spend the extra money, or do you sit on the side of the road for three or four days?” he tells AAP.
Weather-related disruptions have occurred throughout his 40-year career criss-crossing the countryside, but lately, road closures have become more frequent.
Australia has always experienced climate extremes but scientists warn human-caused global warming is ramping up the intensity and frequency of such events.
In a calendar year already marred by floods, bushfires, cyclones, heatwaves and a toxic algal bloom devastating South Australia’s marine wildlife and local fishing operations, climate change is leaving its mark on economic activity nationwide.
The Productivity Commission views climate-related risks as a drag on the nation’s prosperity even with future emissions reductions.
This week, the independent national think tank urged Australia to invest in adaptation and resilience to minimise the ballooning costs of disaster recovery in its second of five planned reports aimed at boosting lacklustre productivity.
Lauren Rickards, director of the La Trobe Climate Change Adaptation Lab, says few professions or industries are spared disruptions from a warming planet.
There are jobs lost, gained and altered by an economy cutting ties with greenhouse gas emissions, with the fossil fuel sector already in decline and renewables and other clean industries on the rise.
There are also a number of roles exposed to the physical risks of a changing climate, such as jobs linked to a tourism site that’s forced to temporarily close after a bushfire.
For tradies and other outdoor workers, safety is a major concern on extremely hot and humid days.
“But that’s just really the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the impacts on work,” Professor Rickards tells AAP.
Her research suggests climate change is impacting workers in a host of other incremental and interconnected ways.
“It’s more about, you know, a thousand cuts,” she says.
Climate-driven weather extremes are already chewing into organisational budgets, especially in government.
Councils forced to continually repair road infrastructure means there’s less money to employ workers for waste management and other services falling under the remit of local government.
Strained budgets and squeezed resources spill over into lives outside of work, Prof Rickards explained, such as spending less time with family or choosing to forgo volunteering due to extra overtime and bigger workloads.
Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O’Neil agrees no worker or sector is immune from climate impacts, from firefighters battling more severe blazes to teachers managing children in hot classrooms.
“It’s making the vast bulk of jobs more gruelling and more precarious and more dangerous,” she tells AAP.
Unions want more done to prevent climate-related illness and injury before it occurs.
This boils down to Australia doing its fair share of emissions reductions as well as investing in adaptation and resilience, including ensuring emergency services are well-resourced and trained appropriately.
“There’s a potential for good jobs to be created,” Ms O’Neil says.
“We need to make sure that we don’t unfairly rely on volunteers in a crisis.”
She describes a “dual impact” on workers during climate diasters.
Workers can be left in the lurch if their place of work becomes inaccessible or unsafe and these same employees tend to be the volunteers putting up their hands to deal with emergency response.
“So one of the things that unions have been negotiating for a long time is for people involved in emergency and disaster responses to not lose pay when they volunteer,” Ms O’Neil says.
A number of industries and workplaces also now allow access to paid leave when workers are unable to work due to weather extremes and disasters, but coverage is not uniform.
The Transport Workers Union, which represents workers like Mr Black, believes clients should cover the cost of detours caused by climate extremes.
Mr Black says they sometimes chip in but it is not the norm.
“These weather events are going to keep happening, and it’s up to the tops of our supply chains to pay their fair share so drivers can viably and safely respond to crises,” TWU national secretary Michael Kaine says.
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