Award for Best Workplace Campaign: Retired Employees Travel Pass
The Victorian union movement has recognised the RTBU for our collective success in winning back the Retired Employees Travel Pass – a provision taken from members by Jeff Kennett.
The campaign was voted on by unions affiliated with the Victorian Trades Hall Council and awarded at the annual Labour Day event.
In accepting the award on behalf of the RTBU, Branch Secretary Vik Sharma acknowledged the hard work and resolve of members across the network campaigning and taking industrial action to achieve this result.
The restoration the pass came through a cross industry campaign coordinated by the RTBU to restore the entitlement that was stripped through privatisation. The Retired Employees Travel Pass is an entitlement that recognises the longstanding service and commitment of retiring rail workers.
Members across the industry felt deeply about the injustice of losing the entitlement and as such the campaign was waged for numerous years across multiple EAs and corporations and even up to department level policy change to secure a victory.
This win is significant as it illustrates the power of an industry-wide campaign waged by an industry union with strong rank and file members and deep roots in history.