Negotiations with Sydney/NSW Trains Have Been Progressing – with some wins for Members Throughout bargaining so far, one of our front and centre demands has been that Sydney Trains and NSW Trains bargain together, with our combined delegates, for one agreement. In October, the Combined Rail Union received correspondence from the Secretary of Transport for NSW (Transport) saying that Sydney Trains and NSW Trains will commit to bargaining jointly on issues that are considered to be common to both agencies. On this basis, Transport sought that the union suspend its industrial action planned for the next fortnight. However, the offer put by Transport was not good enough for delegates to consider calling off the planned action. The full EA delegate committee met over the weekend to develop a counter-offer which could deliver the first win of this campaign after 6 weeks of intense and effective industrial action. At 4pm the same afternoon, Transport folded and agreed in writing to our proposal. There are some significant wins in this back down by Transport, Sydney Trains and NSW Trains. The insulting 0.3% wage proposal is now off the table, and all bargaining parties and decision makers will be at each and every meetingof the intensive bargaining period.
As a result the 2 week networkwide ban on overtime and foreign depot working, Monday 26 October 1 hour strikes, and Tuesdays 27 October ban on “detailed walks” for infrastructure members were postponed.
that have been put over the past 5 months of bargaining on MS Teams. It was important that the senior managers of the employers were able to hear your claims in person, from the mouths of your delegates.
The following actions continued: • Members wearing union gear to work • Members can engage with the media and the public about the bargaining campaign • Adding campaign material to outgoing correspondence • Public announcements by any means • Attaching union materials to railway assets • Indefinite ban on working with the NIF
Importantly, we also got to speak to the following claims: 1. Incorporating all employment arrangements into the EA to protect them into the future. 2. Making the disciplinary processes fairer
On 27 October, combined delegates met face to face with Sydney Trains, NSW Trains, and Transport for NSW. This included the Chief Executives of Sydney Trains and NSW Trains and Senior TfNSW officials. There was a strong sense of solidarity amongst our delegates, who were backed by close to 9000 RTBU members that have taken industrial action over the past 2 months to bring the employers to the table to talk seriously about our conditions of employment. At the table, we rehashed the claims
RAIL & ROAD December 2021
The claims we put to senior management were: 1. One Agreement for Sydney Trains and NSW Trains 2. Maintain or improve on current conditions 3. Health and safety claims 4. Leave matters 5. Job security claims 6. Claims for the deed 7. Flexible work claims
The following days of intensive bargaining were where each Division of the Union put their specific EA claims to the rail entities. The claims we put forward included: 1. The need for a wholesale review of disciplinary processes utilised by the rail entities. 2. Our claim to improve the disputes resolution procedure. 3. Claims for Section 2 of the Agreement covering Salaried Employees. 4. Claims for Section 3 of the Agreement covering Fleet Maintenance Wages Grades. 5. Claims for Section 4 of the Agreement covering Station Staff, Drivers, Guards, OnBoarders, Area Controllers, LICs Operators, and Signallers.
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