Rail Workers Call on Govt to Rip Up Regional Fleet Contract

Rail workers call on govt to rip up New Regional Fleet contract amid safety fears

Your Voice in Parliament

In December rail workers called on the NSW Government to tear up the contract it has signed with a Spanish company to manufacture a new fleet of trains to run throughout regional NSW.

The Spanish company is the same company responsible for the inner-west trams, which are currently all off the tracks as a result of cracking throughout the fleet. The trams are out of warranty, which could mean taxpayers are forced to foot the bill for the repairs. Similar issues have been found in the company’s trams worldwide. Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) NSW Secretary, Alex Claassens, said for the NSW Government to push ahead with the contract for the New Regional Fleet in the face of worker concerns and in the wake of the light rail issues would be irresponsible at best. “The NSW Government needs to put a hold on all overseas manufacturing contracts,” Mr Claassens said. “Workers have had grave safety concerns about these new trains even before we knew about the company’s shocking track-record. “The New Regional Fleet is designed to be built in such a way that the front carriage would be at real risk of derailment if it hits anything like a fallen tree or an animal on the tracks. That’s a serious concern given that in Australia, particularly regional Australia, hitting things on our tracks is commonplace.” The RTBU understands that the NSW Government has signed a contract with the Spanish company, but the final design has not been signed off yet. “This NSW Government’s track record when it comes to transport management is getting beyond a joke. They’ve purchased trains that require massive infrastructure alterations, blown billions on a poorly managed light rail build, they’ve got a new fleet of trains sitting idle because they’re too unsafe to operate and now they’re looking at having to fork out huge amounts of money to fix the inner-west light rail. “Now they want to buy another fleet of trains from overseas from a manufacturer already proven to deliver questionable rolling stock. “It’s time the NSW Government implemented a quota on Australian built infrastructure and started putting commuter and worker safety first.”

The RTBU recently appeared before two NSW Parliamentary inquiries to protect your rights at work.

Coronial Jurisdiction – stopping the repeated trauma Following a serious accident or incident, members have told us that they are routinely subjected to the re-telling of events as investigators, police and coronial inquiries carry out their work. This re-living and re-telling has the potential to traumatise workers, exposing them to the risk of psychological injury or illness. To minimize this risk, your union recommended that names of witnesses required to appear before coronial inquiries are suppressed to protect their identity and their families. We also recommended that witnesses are only required to provide a single statement where a fatality has occurred. We further recommended that investigators be appropriately trained in the Rail Safety regulations and network rules, together with limiting drug and alcohol testing to a single test at time of incident. The Committee was very receptive to our recommendations and asked several questions, of which two are on notice for the RTBU to provide further information. We are hopeful that this will lead to a better outcome for our members who face extreme trauma as part of their duties on many occasions. Workers Compensation proposed amendments A Government Bill to amend the Workers Compensation Act seeks to remove protections for essential workers who contract COVID-19 in the course of their employment. If passed, employees will have to demonstrate that they contracted COVID at their workplace to make a workers compensation claim. Opposing the amendments, the RTBU made written submissions to the inquiry and was invited to give evidence during a one day hearing held 2 February 2022 via video link. The RTBU was joined by several other unions in telling members of parliament that our members, as essential workers, have turned up to work each and every day throughout the pandemic, when other workers could safely work from home, so that the state could still keep moving. To rip away the presumptions that protect you, will mean that you and your co-workers will have to prove infection occurred because of work. We know that this task will be almost impossible to demonstrate, leaving infected members and their families to once again fall victim to the Liberal-Coalition government’s attacks on the workers compensation scheme in NSW.