Important win for Cleaners at Sydney Trains – Multi Enterprise Agreement

6 November 2024

Dear Members,

As you may recall, a few weeks ago we secured a commitment from the NSW Government to support our application to the FWC for a multi enterprise agreement.

Although it may not immediately be obvious why a multi enterprise agreement is so important, it is a vital protection for all members, but especially our members employed as cleaners against the risk of privatisation and outsourcing.

The RTBU is against any attempt to privatise or outsource any railway functions and is actively advocating to ensure any and all roles return to Sydney Trains employment.

How does a multi enterprise agreement protect us?

The main reason businesses or organisations outsource or privatise is to drive down their wages costs. I.e. if another private company can provide cleaning services cheaper than through Sydney Trains’ direct employees, then there’s an opportunity to cut costs by privatising. Our aim is to take that sort of incentive away, which a multi enterprise agreement does.

The practical effect of this is that privatisation or outsourcing won’t occur if there is a multi enterprise agreement in place because Sydney Trains won’t get any benefit out of it.

This is a massive win for our cleaners who consistently face the threat of privatisation and outsourcing!

Further, we continue to push to ensure that more cleaning jobs are brought in house, particularly in the station cleaning space, and reduce contractors overall across the rail network.

If you have any questions about any of the above, feel free to reach out to any of your Workshops Division EA delegates. If you don’t know who they are, you can find their names and positions on www.fightingforourfuture.com.au.

In unity, 

RTBU NSW