The RTBU Has Lost a True Friend and Mentor – Vale Daryll Hull It is with great sadness that we note the passing of Professor Daryll Hull and pay fitting tribute to this greatly appreciated, highly respected and much-loved man. Much of Daryll’s career information has been selected from an obituary from Shipping Australia, 8 October, 2021. Known widely for his great intellect, compassion and understanding, Daryll passed away suddenly on Thursday 30 September 2021 in Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital. Part of the Railway Family Daryll was the son of a railway worker. His father joined the New South Wales Railways as a young school leaver. He trained as a guard and the remainder of his working life he was part of the railway family. Daryll described his “earliest memory as a child was of the railway yards in Dubbo in New South Wales. We lived in the shunters’ cottages near the showground. Coal and soot was the backdrop to my childhood. We stood apart from the rest of the community as part of the railway family…My earliest playmates were the children of other railway workers. When I was old enough to accompany my father to the local hotel, it was a place that railway people drank”. (Foreword to On Wooden Rails, Celebrating 150 Years of Work on the NSW Railways) Daryll never lost his passion or concern for the welfare and working lives of rail workers, and workers across other industries. As former NSW Branch Secretary Nick Leowcki recalled, “I first met Daryll Hull in the late 1990’s he came to the RTBU office and asked to meet with me. He introduced himself and said he had just returned from Western Australia where he was undertaking consultancy work with the State Government and the representatives of the Milk industry following deregulation. He said he had been following in the media the Union’s campaign opposing the contracting out of the NSW Infrastructure work. I explained to him that if contracting out went
ahead there would be thousands of regional jobs affected. Daryll said he would think about what I had told him. A couple of days later he contacted me and organised a meeting where he put forward a campaign plan that would gain both political and community support for the union’s position. The result was the production of a report “Back On Track” that contained research undertaken by Newcastle University highlighting, by rural regions and electorates, the impact on job losses and the loss of financial income within these regions. The report identified the Liberal/ Labor or National Member in each affected electorate. This report was the basis of an ongoing campaign that resulted in the then Transport Minister, Carl Scully, convincing Premier Carr and cabinet to abandon the contracting of out of infrastructure in NSW. Daryll also assisted the Union with main projects including the Union negotiations with station reform. Consultants engaged by the State Rail Authority developed a ranking system for gradings on stations that reflected the duties and responsibilities. When this system was applied to the larger city stations this would have resulted in current station staff grading being reduced. Daryll helped the Union by arguing that the ranking system for larger stations did not take into consideration the large volumes of customers and responsibility for crowd and safety control. The union was successfully in having this included in the ranking system and was called the Daryll Hull Overlay. This protected the gradings of hundreds of station staff.” Daryll never stopped assisting the RTBU in its strategic planning and how to influence government through both media and lobbying to achieve our outcomes. “Daryll became a mentor to many of the RTBU organisers and myself. He had the ability to look at a problem, identify the strong points, weak points
RAIL & ROAD December 2021
and recommend a way forward. This was highlighted with the sale of National Rail and FreightCorp. The Federal Government were proposing the sale National Rail. Daryll outlined to the Union that unless we understood the National Freight Market arguing against the sale of National Rail would have little impact on the Federal Government. Daryll was able to convince the then State Treasurer, Michael Egan, to fund a union report into both National Rail and FreightCorp. The Treasurer agreed and the Union engaged Price Waterhouse Coopers to prepare a report within the terms of reference prepared by Daryll Hull. This report revealed that the sale of National Rail would significantly impact on the viability of FreightCorp as the report identified that 80% of FreightCorp’s revenue came for 10 major coal contracts that were due to expire over the next 2 years. Daryll, with Union Organisers held meetings across NSW explaining to Members the findings of the report and implications to jobs if National Rail became a competitor against FreightCorp. Over 2,200 members attended meetings and gave the Union direction on how to move forward. The final option was that the NSW Government negotiate with the Federal Government a joint sale of National Rail and FreightCorp with protection for the existing working conditions in both National Rail and FreightCorp.”
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