EA Update – more FWC meetings and status of our legal action
2 May 2025
Dear Members,
We’ve continued to engage in the Fair Work Commission process which is intended to settle the drafting of the claims won during the bargaining process. We have had meetings with the Commission on 16, 17, 29, and 30 April.
As we’ve previously reported, the process has been used by management to sneakily walk back a large number of claims that were previously agreed during bargaining. Remember, its now been 150 days since our last actual bargaining meeting.
The way the rail agencies have treating this bargain has been nothing short of incompetent and deplorable. The lack of respect and contempt they have shown our members and their families through this process reflects poorly on an organisation tasked with providing an important public service.
By unilaterally cutting short the bargaining process on 3 December 2024, the rail agencies have created a complete mess which has taken many long months to try and clean up. After the last two bargains, its high time the Government looked at the bargaining style of the rail agencies and cleaned it up – we cannot and will not go through another bargaining round like this purely because of the lack of ability to effectively bargain with their workforce.
Fair Work Commission Update
Regardless, using the process we have been able to reduce the amount of blatant employer walk backs on agreed claims from over 50 to around 27.
Whether a blatant denial of a previously agreed item, or the use of sneaky drafting to diminish the new entitlement, the employer remains stubborn, and we need to continue to fight for the following claims:
1. Workplace Training Allowance
2. Coaching (buddy) Allowance
3. Flexible working arrangements
4. Overtime paid on the day for Section 4
5. Increasing public holiday accrual to 12 days
6. Ability to attach public holidays to before and after planned annual leave
7. Ability to accrue 4 hours leave if operations members cannot take concessional leave on Christmas Eve
8. Requirement to hold relevant competency if required to train or assess
9. Certificate 4 for Train Drivers
10. Safety critical training to be delivered face to face only
11. Review workplace surveillance procedures to ensure access and usage is limited
12. Right to disconnect
13. No financial disadvantage for union delegates attending employer meetings
14. Various rights for Transport Officers (Accrual of ADOs & allocation of home station)
15. Allowance or reclassification of CSAs at single man stations
16. Overtime for part timers who work beyond their contract hours
17. Grade upgrade for SDMs
18. Introduction of Regional Guard role
19. Prohibition of Driver Only Operations and safety at the platform train interface clause
20. Relief lines starting times for Guards
21. New classifications for Signallers
22. New classifications for TSDMs and NIMs
23. Review to confirm the reinstatement of Garrison’s on stations
24. Increase in level for WGLs and TLs in Track and Structures stream
25. Include AS105 and AS106 in the Electrical Safety Allowance
26. Increase night shift allowance in Section 5 to 140% (pending completion of a clause 12 process)
27. Introduce a new Shunter classification to cover all shunters across the network
This remains a long list and of course does not include our pay rises which remain outstanding. Discussions about pay cannot really take place before the Fair Work Commission as they are serious bargaining discussions, and need to be had with actual decision makers. Unfortunately, it is a feature of the current Fair Work process that decision makers are still not coming to the table, and we are forced to participate through proxies who take things away and report back on what the decision makers decide.
To be clear, the above listed items are not lost. The rail agencies and the Government know they agreed to them. We remain confident that once we get past the employers silly games, we will land our claims and make this the enterprise agreement we all deserve.
Good Faith Bargaining case
In the meantime, the CRU’s case for good faith bargaining orders is going ahead on Wednesday 14 May in an effort to force the rail agencies and the Government back to the actual bargaining table. The case also seeks to force them to produce documents they have withheld that are vital to the case for higher wage increases, and to more efficient bargaining.
Our Union President, Craig Turner, will be giving evidence on our behalf that we anticipate will show the Commission the shambles the rail agencies bargaining effort has been, and the impact their unconscionable actions have had on the prolongment of a bargain that should have been completed last year.
We will provide updates throughout that case as it progresses.
Wage Theft case
You may recall that late last year, Sydney Trains withheld wages from members at Sydney Trains who chose to take part in partial work bans. This was an action by Sydney Trains management that cannot occur without proper process which it did not satisfy.
Since that time, we filed a wage theft claim in the Federal Court. Unfortunately (although not unsurprising given their actions of late) Sydney Trains’ lawyers are playing legal games by raising procedural technicalities which continue to delay the case. Our lawyers are working extremely hard to ensure the case comes on as soon as possible.
Case to lift suspension order
Currently, the President of the Commission is considering a technicality raised by the employer’s lawyers in our case to lift the suspension order made against us that applies until 1 July 2025. Once the Commission makes that decision, it will then move onto consider the substantive case and decide whether the rail agencies multiple walk backs on key bargaining items justifies lifting the order it made earlier this year against us.
If you have any questions about the above, please contact your EA delegate which you can find on our website, www.fightingforourfuture.com.au, or alternatively contact your organiser or the office on (02) 9264 2511.
In unity,
RTBU NSW