Bryan Evans
Organiser

This week, V/Line Infrastructure Delegates from across the state met to formulate and endorse our 2019 EA bargaining round log of claims for the V/Line Infrastructure agreement.

Signals and communications (S&C) and track were both equally represented with representatives from day and night shifts. Also present were the old guards who have fought for RTBU members since the days of the PTC winning the battles that established the conditions we enjoy today.

We have also brought in some new blood to the table, bringing fresh ideas who will fight the battles and establish the conditions members will enjoy tomorrow and in the future.

The collaboration between grades, the warhorses and the new blood was truly remarkable, and I can say with certainty that the 2019 V/Line Infrastructure EA campaign will not be one focused on “retaining all our conditions” rather it will be one focused on fighting for new and better conditions. A new and better standard for V/Line Infrastructure members in a rapidly modernising railway.

I look forward to working with you all throughout the year and thrashing it out with the companies to negotiate the best possible EA for RTBU members. As always, please give me a call on 0457 006 739 if there are any issues or anything you would like to discuss.

Joe Dennis
Organiser

Happy new year to everyone, I hope you all had a restful break over Christmas and New Year’s. 2019 will be a huge year with the upcoming Enterprise Agreement (EA) negotiations for the public transport major operators Metro, V/Line, Yarra Trams and many more smaller companies where we have members. Meetings are being planned for members and Delegates to attend so please make every effort to come along and put your ideas on the table when these meetings occur.

So far this year I have been approached by members from NSW Trainlink, who work out of Southern Cross station. These members have had their classifications changed and as a result their pay rates reduced. Many members have been working on a casual basis and are too scared to approach anyone to ask for a more permanent position as they are employed by an agency and  not employed by NSW Trainlink directly.

I am currently in discussions with McArthur and will try and get to the bottom of these issues.

On an unrelated note, I have also received a number of emails and phone calls in relation to the “personal time” that staff have access to at the Probe (PTV) call centre. Staff are being monitored when they step away from their phones for longer than 2 minutes and 40 seconds. Yes, you read that correctly, 2 minutes and 40 seconds.  

Staff members are going to the toilet and managers are alerted to them being away for longer than 2 minutes and 40 seconds and will then go looking for the member. This is causing staff to feel bullied and stressed for simply needing to go to the toilet. Managers feel they are doing nothing wrong and only conducting a “welfare check” but after a couple of minutes, they have got to be joking!

I have also spoken to members at Transclean regarding concern about their Category three medicals that have come up for renewal. Transclean have informed members they are to pay for the medicals (approx. $300 – 400) as it is a condition of their employment, however nothing was given to them and nothing signed relating to payment.

After negotiation, Transclean have come to the table and agreed to pay for the medicals for the staff at Southern Cross. I would say that Transclean will be amending the contracts of employment to include that staff are to pay in the future. Before anyone signs the “new” contract of employment please come and see me.

See you all in 2019.

Luba Grigorovitch
Branch Secretary

2019 marks two anniversaries of historic occasions for our Union.

25 April this year marks the centenary of the death of Frank Hyett, founding Secretary of the Victorian Railways Union. As the son of a working class couple from Ballarat, Hyett left school to become a worker at the age of 13 after his father’s death from pneumonia left his mother without support.

Hyett’s experience of reality soon lead to him become a convinced socialist and trade unionist, moving from working as a grocery store clerk to becoming an Organiser for the Amalgamated Society of Railway Employees in February 1910. An energetic and totally dedicated Organiser, he was often away from home for months on end visiting and recruiting new members across the state.

His dedication led to him becoming the Society’s General Secretary just two months later. At the time, public transport Unions across Victoria and Australia were divided on crafts lines that left their members separated from each other on poor and deteriorating rates and declining conditions. At the time, they were often at the mercy of arrogant employers, be they state or private.

Hyett grasped that it was vital that all railway workers combine into a single, industry-wide Union to advance their wages and conditions collectively. By 1911, Hyett’s persistence for an industry-wide Union had impressed the many grades of railway workers. They voted by an overwhelming majority to amalgamate their respective associations into one big union, hence forth forming the Victorian Railways Union in July 1911.

The VRU was the first industrial railway Union in Australian history and prefigured the Australian Railways Union which was formed a few years later. Hyett was also politically active and was arrested and jailed for his free speech campaigns against attempts to introduce conscription during the first World War.

Tragically Hyett died on 25 April 1919 from the Spanish flu aged 37. When his coffin was carried by train home to Box Hill, it passed Glenferrie Oval where a cricket match was taking place: both teams stopped playing and stood in silence in respect as his coffin passed. Such was the respect working class people had for their representatives. To this day it is still ranked as one of Melbourne’s largest funeral processions.

I am proud to announce that in 2019 the RTBU will be celebrating the life of Frank Hyett given the 100^th year Anniversary

The second historic occasion to occur this year is on 15 May.

15 May will mark 50 years since Clarrie O’Shea, militant Union leader and Victorian Secretary of our Tram & Bus Division’s predecessor union Australian Tramways and Motor Omnibus Employees Association (ATMOEA), was jailed for refusing to pay penal fines for striking on behalf of the Union. By 1969, nearly 20 continuous years of conservative Governments in Australia and Victoria meant that penal fines had become so manifestly spiked against workers for striking as to make any kind of action against the employers’ greed impossible.

O’Shea and ATMOEA refused to pay their fines, upholding that only their Union’s members had the right to decide what should be done with their money. The day following O’Shea’s jailing saw Victorian transport workers and their Unions leading the way as Union after Union took strike action across Australia in support of Clarrie O’Shea.

No industry was left untouched as a general strike took hold and large demonstrations across the country that lasted almost a week forced the establishment to release O’Shea from Pentridge Prison .The entire Union movement as a result united around the non-payment of fines resulting in reducing the penal laws to a damp squib.

The 1969 general strike was one of the greatest victories for our working class movement and for democracy in Australia, with so many lessons for our labour movement today .

I am immensely proud of the part that our Union’s history played in this struggle. 

Today when fines and the law have become once again a blatant weapon against the union movement and the working class’s ability to defend our interests – to say nothing of inequality, insecure work, permanent unemployment and attacks on wages and conditions having become more endemic than before – the 1969 General Strike stands in our history as a powerful lesson to our labour movement today. We can only change unjust laws and build a better and fairer society if we dare to break those laws.

This year, the RTBU will be commemorating the 50th anniversary of the general strike and Clarrie O’Shea’s defiance. More details on this will follow shortly.

The lessons of O’Shea’s 1969 General Strike and our Union’s fighters like Frank Hyett could also not be more pressing as we approach the expiry of our current Enterprise Agreements for the major operators.

All members of our collective must stay united so we can maintain our EAs’ industry standards regardless of the employer demands.

The Union believes we are in a strong position coming up to negotiations, but if the bosses or operators offer us pittance or try to push us into a corner to grab what is ours, we will not hesitate to take industrial action. Our Union rises and fights together. United we stand, Divided we fall.

Joe Maisano 
Organiser

Recently it was brought to my attention that the inadequacies of the station cleaning in Metro have spread even further. Station staff at many stations across the network were being left with no choice but to clean the inside of the stations themselves. If staff did not clean inside the stations, they would be working in disgusting conditions until the cleaners finally arrived.

It became clear that the cleaners were not attending each station often enough and so we decided to put this in dispute under the pretence that cleaning the stations is not part of the station staff’s PDs.

I am pleased to report that the professional cleaners are now cleaning inside the station more often which means that station staff are no longer forced to do it or work in an unclean environment. 

This is a great win for members and if there is anyone who continues to have these issues at their station, please call me ASAP on 0421 122 437.

We have also written a letter to Nicholas Sleigh, General Manager Station Operations raising concerns about a number of issues that were brought up through the RTBU Safety meetings that occurred in July, August and September of this year.

Some of the concerns raised with Nick Sleigh were:

• Station Staff staying back on late shifts after PSOs have left premises after last train: This issue relates mainly to stations that close-up with one staff member working on their own at smaller sized Premium stations without Control desk facilities, examples include Boronia and Coburg among others.

• Two-up staffing of station barrier arrays: Station staff continue to report issues at barrier arrays across the network and the issue of staff assaults both physical and verbal.

• Short Shunts: Station staff at a number of stations have reported a number of unsafe scenarios due to short shunting of trains, and station staff on their own assisting with detraining passengers, who often are aggressive and angry about their service being terminated or delayed.

• C.A.N. Notices: Station staff reported a number of safety issues relating to the issuing of CAN notices. This is especially the case for sustained long periods and during the night often having to give them to the driver after walking through subways on their own.
• Station safety signage: At a number of stations, members have requested that signage be provided in booking offices and public display areas around the issue of “Not verbally abusing or threatening station staff”. Some of these posters and signs maybe station specific, but this issue needs to be addressed as we come into peak school holidays and the Xmas/New year period.

We are currently awaiting a response from Nick Sleigh and will update members when we have further information.

Joe Dennis
Organiser

2018 has finally come to an end, what a year it has been! Since becoming an Organiser, I have had the pleasure of meeting with members all over Victoria, from Bairnsdale to Bendigo and everywhere in between. Members have welcomed me to the Union with open arms, thank you for your support.

Looking forward to 2019 we have numerous enterprise agreements up for negotiation, Metro, V/Line and Probe. This will make for some exciting times ahead. We have met with Delegates from all providers and compiled a log of claims to move forward in negotiating a fair agreement for all rail workers, improving conditions and increasing pay rates in line with the cost of living.

In the year ahead we welcome the new mobile myki which is currently in trial stage with the trial about to head into the second stage of testing. Body camera trials for Authorised Officers and Station Staff, due to the high possibility of being assaulted and the roll out of new Vlocity trains, which pose a few issues requiring risk assessments to be done prior to them being rolled out into service.

Safety for our members will continue to be at the fore front of issues heading into the new year. We all agree that members should go home at the end of the day safely.

I will continue with the issues faced at the PTV call centre relating to pay and conditions and continue to work with the Delegates to improve things so all members can have a safe and secure workplace.

In 2019 I intend to roll out more monthly Delegates meetings in areas that have never held meetings. These meetings are crucial in the workplace as they create accountability and communication channels to openly resolve issues.

Again thank you all for working with me in 2018 and I look forward to seeing you all in 2019. And for all members working over the Christmas and new year break, thank you all for hard work and efforts keeping our system moving.