Do you still think this is about safety?
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Email to members reveals rail union ‘resolved to fight government with everything we’ve got’
In an extraordinary email sent to union members, striking train staff have been told the Perrottet government “does not deserve a moment of peace between now and the next election”.
Daily Telegraph
September 6, 2022 - 5:00AM
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/n.../efc6bee0dc3dc86b38a3ae9cdb96d4c7#share-tools
In an extraordinary email sent to Rail, Tram and Bus Union members, signed off by its secretary Alex Claassens, striking train staff have been told the Perrottet government “does not deserve a moment of peace between now and the next election”, seemingly proving the state’s ongoing industrial action is a political bid to give Labor a clear run to victory in March.
The email, authorised by Mr Claassens, declared the government “completely lost the plot” when Premier Dominic Perrottet
threatened to tear up a wages agreement if industrial action continues.
“We are resolved to fight this government with everything we’ve got,” the August 31 email read. “This government does not deserve a moment of peace between now and the next election.”
Despite Mr Claassens declaring commuters would have another week of relative peace from industrial action, the email said a number of “indefinite actions” would “continue to cause (the government) pain”.
“Contrary to media reporting – we have not dropped any industrial action,” it said.
In subsequent campaign updates, the RTBU has vowed its fight against the government will be “smart” and “long”.
“Every time they take us on, we win. And we will again.”
Sydney Trains' employee perks
- Industry allowance: equivalent to $3,500 per year paid on the basis workers do not go on illegal strike
- Free public transport
- Paid day off for union "picnic day"
- Security allowances for guards who walk through carriages
- Six days' "training leave" for union delegates
- Workers paid for extra travel time if starting away from "home station"
Treasurer Matt Kean seized on the email, saying it showed the “union movement unmasked”. He said the union was “bragging about its political agenda around the election, without so much of a mention of the hundreds of thousands of commuters who are suffering under this Labor and union campaign”.
Mr Claassens, who did not write the email but signed off on it, denied it showed the union was fighting the Perrottet government on ideological grounds in order to help Labor win the election.
“I don’t care whether it’s a Liberal government in power or a bloody Labor government in power, I’ve had the same fights with the Labor government, and I would do it again in a heartbeat,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
He said the
RTBU would continue industrial action which did not inconvenience the public – like keeping turnstiles open allowing customers to board trains without paying.
However he said if the union did not get a resolution in the Fair Work Commission, in hearings set down for Tuesday and Wednesday, further strikes could be on the cards.
“If there is no resolution, then I suspect that our members and delegates will ramp up their industrial action,” he said.
“I am trusting the Fair Work process will force the government to the table to negotiate in good faith. And failing that, I will go back and talk to our members and delegates and see what the next steps are.”
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They are also fighting for -
- 6 extra 'mental heath days' off a year (on top of leave, the extra 1 week being demanded, and RDOs/picnic days)
- 25% increase to salary if 'anything is privatised'
- 50% payout of 'unused' sick leave on resignation
- All uniforms must be Australian made
Rail workers demand ‘healthy option’ meal allowances and R U OK days
Samantha HutchinsonNational reporter
Sep 5, 2022 – 6.55pm
Unlimited single sick days, “healthy option” meal allowances and a flat 15 per cent increase to night shift pay rates for station managers are just some of the claims NSW train workers are asking for in a bitter industrial dispute.
The NSW Rail, Tram and Bus Union’s log of demands also requests drivers receive six “R U OK” days on top of their annual leave allowance. Another clause scraps a requirement for workers to hand in a doctor’s certificate when they call in sick the day before, or after, a public holiday.
The
NSW government will square off against the rail union and Unions NSW in the Fair Work Commission on Tuesday morning, as the unions attempt to bring the government back to the negotiating table after weeks of industrial action have brought the city’s rail network to a standstill.
T
Log of claims | Sydney & NSW Trains Collective Agreement 2001
| • “Healthy options” meal allowance |
|---|
| • Provide quarterly reports to unions about the number of contractors engaged |
|---|
| • Other than genuine emergencies employees must not be contacted outside of work hours |
|---|
| • No medical certificate required for shift workers who call sick after a public holiday |
|---|
| • Six R U OK Days a year for drivers when affected by fatigue or personal circumstances |
|---|
| • Annual bonus payable for work performed during a public crisis |
|---|
| • Increase annual leave entitlement by one week |
|---|
| • Increase night shift allowance by 15% |
|---|
|
|---|
Source: Financial Review
NSW RTBU secretary Alex Claassens, who is a qualified train driver, accused the government of walking away from the negotiating table in a bid to make union members look bad.
“We’re asking them to come back and finish off the agreement,” Mr Claassens said. “Instead, the government seems more than happy to waste taxpayers’ money in a courtroom, so they can continue the rhetoric that we are the ‘bad guys’ taking protected industrial action.”
As Mr Perrottet unveiled a new “Future Transport Strategy” for the state’s transport network on Monday, he took aim at the federal government attempt to clamp down on an employers’ ability to terminate industrial agreements. On Friday, federal Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke wrote to the Fair Work Commission flagging new plans that would limit employers’ abilities to tear up enterprise agreements.
“I find it highly unusual that you would flag to the Fair Work Commission legislation that may be, at some point in time, introduced … and you flag it in the middle of a significant action to the union movement,” Mr Perrottet said.
“[It is] hardly a coincidence.”
While the premier declined to comment on the nature of the union’s demands, the union’s log of claims lodged at the start of the negotiations sheds light on the generous conditions which have been considered.
It includes a demand for all workers to receive an immediate 25 per cent increase to base pay if the government privatises any part of the train service. Another condition relating to sick leave requires all union members to be paid 50 per cent of their sick leave when they resign.
Increases to “on call” provisions include a jump in pay from $28.30 to $40 for rostered on-call duties, and an increase from $42.56 to $50 for all non-rostered on-call duties. Drivers are requesting double-time to be paid after eight hours of work on a Saturday, a switch restricting sign-on times to the hour or the half-hour, and a 30-minute “crib” break between the third and fifth hours worked, excluding “walk time” or however long it takes to get from the train to the break room.
All train uniforms are to be Australian made and from Australian suppliers, while a “right to disconnect” provision bans bosses from calling their employees outside the employee’s rostered working hours, unless it is a “genuine emergency”, a welfare call, or the employee is being paid an on-call allowance.
A Unions NSW application to the Fair Work Commission detailed how the union believes it can reach an agreement with the government, while accusing the government of “stultifying” and politicising the issue.
As the NSW government prepares to face the rail union in the Fair Work Commission on Tuesday, the union’s log of claims sheds light on the generous conditions under consideration.
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