Region 7 (Ryde & Willoughby) Enterprise Agreement and other news Firstly, thanks to the tireless work of the Ryde RTBU committee, particularly Ian O’Connor, Busway has agreed to pay the Uniform Allowance to ‘…qualifying employees, in the pay period ending 24/12/23.’ If anyone gets chipped about old clothes you have no excuse, and if you see Ian around at Ryde tell him “thanks!” Secondly, again at Ryde there is a Workplace Consultative Committee being set up. Employees can only nominate themselves and must have their nomination seconded. The work of the committee will be to bring operational issues to the attention of management in a controlled way and to solve as many issues as possible locally. This is serious work and we ask that anyone who nominates understands that they will be dealing with issues that affect the entire workforce.
Finally, we have been making progress on a single EA for all drivers. TfNSW has asked the company and the union to sit down and get to the bottom of what each entitlement would cost. When we nail that down we will come to members and discuss where we have landed and seek direction from the workers. After that we will take the list to TfNSW and they will take it to the Minister for approval to spend that money. As usual, it comes down to who has to pay for what.
Office Move! As members would be aware, the Redfern building was sold by the RTBU which means that the Tram & Bus division is leaving its home of 30 years. We ask for your patience as we deal with the complex task of sorting through over 100 years of history from our predecessor unions as well as 30 years of the RTBU. The division will be moving to the Branch office at Pitt St. so the entire Union is under one roof.
Light Rail News Newcastle After the Controller EA (Greenfield) was essentially rolled over with minimal RTBU involvement, drivers have taken a different approach and it’s definitely looking to deliver a better outcome to have the Union fighting for you! The last proposal by the Keolis Downer was voted down by drivers and the RTBU has been pushing for more concessions from the company. We’re not sure how much they have to give but members are motivated and keen to have concrete improvements locked in place.
Transdev
The RTBU has just begun the process of merging two existing Enterprise Agreements and including coverage for the new Parramatta Light Rail into a single EA. This will be a complex exercise but the workforce is looking forward to plugging up some of the long term gaps in both Agreements. We’ve had a couple meetings as a group with all workplace reps and individually to allow each group of employees concerns to be clearly heard by Transdev.
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The company has said from the beginning that they will have a gap in pay structure between the three lines to reflect the various complexities, if we can’t get rid of it then our job is to make that gap as small as possible. Members can expect more of a presence from officials once the office move is done, and we can confirm we are looking for an organiser with a rail background to properly service our Light Rail membership going forward.
RAIL & ROAD September 2023
