The RTBU has a proud history of supporting women members to better participate in our union.

The Anna Stewart Memorial Project run by Trades Hall is a two-week women’s leadership training and development program designed to encourage more women to be active in their unions. Now in its 39^th year and 2023 was no exception.

Anna Stewart was a journalist and active Victorian union official who tragically lost her life aged 35.

Women form a critical voice and can influence the culture of a workplace. Within unions and at the workplace, women have the immediate capacity to identify workplace challenges and drive action.

The Anna Stewart Memorial Project is a way forward for women motivated to support others and nurture their voices, provide opportunity, and affect meaningful change.

Women representing nine different unions graduated from this year’s cohort after completing 5 days training with Trades Hall and 5 days at their respective unions.

Topics addressed included:

• campaigning and organising skills
• women’s leadership and union history
• rights of delegates & health and safety representatives in the workplace
• workplace rights, and
• emerging issues for women at work and more.

Participants benefitted from the experience of other women from diverse industries, unions, and occupations.

2023 RTBU recipients; Whitney Murphy and Kira Scotland exemplify the qualities embodied by Anna Stewart graduates.

Kira and Whitney visited the Footscray Hospital and West Gate Tunnel projects with CFMEU Women’s Organiser Lisa Zanatta. They spent an intense week with RTBU Organisers in Stations, Infrastructure and Rolling Stock getting a feel for the issues being faced by members whilst working on a series of projects.

As a collective with other unions, they organised an action at the Queen Victoria Market designed to bring attention to the campaign to abolish non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) which are a tool used by bosses to bind women into silence about gendered violence and sexual harassment at work.

The RTBU congratulates Whitney and Kira for graduating from a program with a long and distinguished list of alumni.

Results matter so let’s keep our eye on the prize.
At the commencement of this bargaining round the RTBU launched an ambitious campaign to address unparalleled change in our industry.

Major changes are due to affect all aspects of the network. From operations, infrastructure and rollingstock maintenance, manufacturing and projects, initiatives like the Metro Tunnel, Suburban Rail Loop, Airport Rail, Inland Rail, HCMT, X’Trapolis 2.0, the retirement of the classic fleet and Comeng, Next Generation Trams. New tram maintenance facilities and new franchises on the horizon for Metro and Yarra Trams means new skills, and old skills becoming obsolete.

We must be on the front foot to address challenges on our terms, not those of management and an industry wide approach is the only way to deliver these outcomes.

Our strategy must not only focus on the financial aspects of wages and conditions, but also the protections that our EAs offer to members. These come in the form of rostering provisions, disputation rights, redundancy rights and additional time off. These claims are absolutely critical to ensure members are thoroughly protected throughout periods of unprecedented change.

As we approach the halfway mark of the major bargaining round this unified approach is setting new standards for all industry EAs. Let’s take stock of the progress already achieved:

Metro Operations
Now in its final stages of drafting and on-track to go to a vote soon, the in-principle agreement delivers:

• 17% pay increase over 4 years
• No Forced Redundancies
• An additional 5 days off a year by the end of the agreement
• A secure classification structure to cater for future change
• Better wage security for part time members
• Grievance clause allowing fair treatment for all members
• Medical redeployment clause
• Many more general improvements with no loss of conditions

Metro Infrastructure
This agreement is also in the final stages of drafting and will soon be ready for the vote. It continues to build on the successes of the last two enterprise agreements with:

• Penalty payments for working in inclement weather
• Better penalties for working in public holidays
• Job security by ensuring all contractors engaged are no worse off than full-timers, now extended to projects and also provides wage security to all RTBU labour hire members

Metro Rolling Stock
At the time of writing Metro rolling stock is on a precipice of swift resolution or industrial action, Although the financial outcomes negotiated so far are solid:

• Once again achieving the 17% increase
• Improved all-purpose allowances
• Paid income protection
• Inclement weather

The company to date, have refused to provide quality skills to RTBU members, and are yet to agree to our claim of no forced redundancies. With Comeng retirement barrelling down the line, RTBU members will not settle without these issues being addressed.

V/Line Operations
With industrial action now endorsed by members, the intensity of bargaining is really heating up. While the RTBU expects V/Line to deliver industry standard protections and improvements won in Metro Operations, management claims to be having an “existential crisis” over our core claims.

V/Line who have repeatedly failed to deliver fair outcomes and have inconsistently applied their processes causing significant industrial disputation, are pushing back hardest on claims that would require the company to follow fair process.

Although progress is being made on some items, V/Line are pushing back on the items that matter most including the grievance clause, no forced redundancies and the 36 hour week.

V/Line Infrastructure
This agreement is unique this bargaining round with management entertaining some non-financial claims but are failing to keep wages in-line with other infrastructure companies. V/Line continues to blame the Government Wages Policy but fail to recognise the impact on their workforce and staff retention in a world of rampant inflation and cost of living pressures.

With infrastructure projects still booming, skilled RTBU members are highly skilled and sought after by other companies already paying higher wages – this leaves V/Line vulnerable.

As this would undermine our industry and network and is not an outcome anyone wants to see happen, V/Line and the government must get serious or face the impact of industrial action to force an outcome.

V/Line Maintenance (Alstom Rollingstock)
With Classic fleet retirement and a newly renovated South Dynon Depot on the horizon, the VLM agreement is critical for the future of Rolling Stock across the network. Initially hampered by delays due to the current tender process, progress is now rapidly being made with the company dropping off on its most aggressive claims. The last offer even acknowledged a competitive wage increase of 17%.

Despite progress, there remain outstanding many claims that would deliver job security and skills to our members. With Classic fleet retirement looming, these claims take precedence over the financial outcomes and members won’t hesitate to take industrial action to back in their job security and skills.

Other Agreements
There are many other agreements receiving significant attention to ensure there are no weak links across the industry. Laing O’Rourke’s new agreement is set to go to a vote, and McConnel Dowell is also about commence.

Many EAs across Labour Hire have recently been finalised or are currently under negotiation. These include Programmed Skilled Workforce, Galco Group, Corfad and TAG Hire, to name a few.

Bargaining across industry, with a long-term view that spanning multiple bargaining rounds is the best way to utilise our powers as the industry union.

Touch one, touch all.

Your RTBU bargaining team has continued to meet with V/Line to continue pushing our critical claims for the V/Line Rail Operations Enterprise Agreement.

V/Line have continued to refuse claims that would deliver job security, wage security and clauses that ensure a fair process for all.

Voting for industrial action delivered strong results showing that arounf 93% of members who voted have voted for ACTION.

This sends a STRONG and UNITED message to V/Line that we are not going to accept anything less than RTBU members deserve, and we WILL take action to get it.

ALL our critical claims are crucial to the future of our industry:

• Grievance Clause = Fairness treatment for all addressing V/Lines anti worker processes.
• No Forced Redundancies = Job security that V/Line cannot make employees forcibly redundant as technology and other unforeseen changes hit the network.
• Classification Structure = Job and wage security that means any change will happen on your terms, not how and when management choose.
• Part-Time Clause = Overtime fairness and wage security, bringing conditions in line with full-timers.
• 36 hour Week = Additional EDOs/RDOs with no loss of pay.

Members at Metro won conditions that address the same concerns, yet V/Line think you don’t deserve what Metro has.

The RTBU’s Members and Delegates ran a strong industrial campaign and got results! If V/Line don’t want to come to an agreement, WE WILL TAKE ACTION!

The next Rail Divisions V/Line EA meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 6 December.

Heading into Christmas, summer holidays and the upcoming major events, now is time to stand together with a united front to ensure we deliver the results all members deserve.

A V/Line Customer Service Manager at Geelong Station has unfairly targeted conductors wearing cargo pants.

Despite similarities with pants made available to drivers, V/Line has argued that cargo pants do not constitute V/Line uniform. But the way the issue has been approached has been a far cry from professional.

When five Geelong conductors chose to wear cargo pants in response to concerns that company issued pants for conductors are uncomfortable, provide no resistance to wind in winter and have been reported to cause skin irritation, an email was circulated to staff locally reinforcing the compulsory use company issued uniform.

This prompted members to write to the regional manager seeking a review of the uniform policy for the more robust pants to be added to the uniform order form.

Despite commonplace variations, irregularities and special considerations given for different uniform needs across the network, it was only following this letter that a local CSM decided to threaten these particular members with disciplinary action over uniform compliance.

The union got involved and negotiated with the regional manager to allow the cargo pants to be worn until additional uniform became available, and that the issue be addressed with senior management. Senior management have since agreed to review the conductor uniform choices and permitted the cargo pants until the matter is resolved.

Unfortunately, this progress on the matter at various levels didn’t stop the CSM from again threatening the women with disciplinary action after being told of the arrangement not once, but twice.

Union officials have made it clear to V/Line we will not tolerate this kind of targeted discrimination and victimisation against our members.

We will keep you updated as the matter progresses.

If you have experienced an issue with uniform, discrimination, bullying, harassment or victimisation please reach out to the RTBU office or your Organiser.