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Government Refuses to Put Its Money Where Its Mouth Is
In the weeks following the NSW Government’s threat to sue its workforce and the RTBU if action proceeded with turning off Opal machines , Government ministers have lined up in the media to suggest that it is the Unions who are stopping the enterprise agreement from being approved and bringing this dispute to a close. We know this is not true at all – after all, it was the Government that made a promise to the Fair Work Commission that it would not put the agreement out to a vote until the good faith bargaining case is finished. In response to this Government rhetoric, our EA delegates, in conjunction with delegates across the Combined Rail Unions, have told the Government that it’s time to put its money where its mouth is.
If the Government agreed to our final outstanding claims, listed below, and committed to lock them in (and of course honour their commitment to the already agreed items from our log claims) regardless of the outcome of a vote, then it would be free to test its theory that members will accept their wages cap by putting the EA to a vote. In yet another attempt to reach a resolution to the dispute, the CRU wrote to Sydney Trains and NSW Trains to set out the 4 outstanding claims yet to be resolved that would have to be addressed before an agreement is put to a vote. They are: 1. Rostering Agreements for Stations, Network Control,
CSOs, On-boarders, and Fleet Maintenance. 2. Deed for the New Intercity Fleet, as well as a prohibition on Driver Only Operations and staffing requirements for safety at the Platform Train Interface. 3. Higher Standards Cleaning Allowance of $2.55 per hour. 4. Union Involvement in risk assessments.
The wages component is still very much outstanding with the Government stuck on its inadequate offer of 2.53% payable from 1 May 2022, and 3.03% from 1 May 2023 with the Agreement expiring on 1 May 2024 (noting that their wage offer contains only two increases and excludes the entire third increase in the CRU offer). Given the Government’s steadfast refusal to move from its wages position, the only way to comprehensively tell them its not good enough is a resounding “NO” vote. The Government has been saying that it wants to put its deal to a vote. This was its chance to agree to the final union claims and see whether hardworking union members will accept their insulting wage increase.
Still Playing Politics
In early November, the NSW Government again took steps to drag out our ongoing EA dispute. Their letter of response contains a refusal to put the draft Enterprise Agreement to a vote with all agreed conditions. In fact, the letter went backwards on previous government positions. The government now wants to take conditions away from union members (previous positions had members maintaining all their conditions), including the government wanting to have the Fair Work Commission arbitrate on whether clauses 12, 13 and 14 should exist at all, and what our wage increase and newly won allowances should be. If we needed even more proof that this is nothing more than a political game for the government, this is it. The NSW Government Ministers have been saying they want to put an Enterprise Agreement to the workforce to vote on, but as soon as we put forward a position which would allow them to do that, they change their minds. This should be about getting safe trains on our tracks and fair wages and conditions for rail workers, but instead it’s becoming a platform for a few Ministers to make a name for themselves ahead of an election.
It’s a farce and the rail workers and commuters of NSW are the ones paying for it. It’s important to note that the government cannot put an agreement out to the workforce to vote on while the “good faith bargaining” Fair Work Commission case is still underway, and the timeline on that case is still unknown.
