Darren Galea
Organiser 

After many consultation meetings and working parties that have been developed over several years, all Authorised Officer (AO) Delegates and Health & Safety Representatives (HSRs) were invited to attend a Night Network roster meeting all together on Friday 29 March 2019.

It was great to see such a high number of AOs show up for the meeting to discuss the rosters that have been ongoing for some time. The RTBU appreciates and understands that any change to rosters affects our members’ personal lives which is why there has been a working party from the beginning to ensure that this is done correctly.

We also understand that while new rosters can be a positive change for the majority, we are never able to get 100% of the membership to be happy with it. Every single person has a different personal situation and we will continue to work towards the best possible outcome and roster for everyone.

For those of you that don’t know, when Night Network was implemented in 2015, every area of rail got extra staff to accommodate for Night Network running, however the AOs received none. This has been a continuous issue since then because AOs are expected to patrol during Night Network however they never received additional staff to allow for this.

Fatigue has been at an all-time high for the last few years because of this, which is why the working party has been making every effort to create a roster that best accommodates all members and therefore better manage the fatigue.

The working party will continue developing the rosters and will update the affected members in due course as this progresses. If any members have any questions, please feel free to call me on 0407 512 494.

Luba Grigorovitch
Branch Secretary

Once again, the pitfalls of privatisation have been proven with MTR Corporation Limited’s interim report for 2018 being revealed.

MTR Corporation who holds the majority share in Metro Trains Melbourne (MTM) are a Hong Kong based company contracted to operate transit systems in London, Stockholm, Beijing, Sydney and many more, including Melbourne.

MTM sitting under the umbrella of the multi-billion dollar MTR Corporation received another seven-year contract (MR4) to operate Melbourne’s Metropolitan train system in 2017.

The new contract was rolled over to Metro by the Victorian Government under the guise of stricter KPIs, harsher penalties for network maintenance and stricter standards for cancellations and late services. However, MTR’s most recent company report revealed that since the contract has come into effect, Metro has received $7.3 billion in bonuses, and only been charged a mere $990,000 for not reaching their targets.  

In the new $6.2 billion seven-year contract, Metro’s targets for punctuality were raised from 88% to 92% and service delivery increased from 95% to 95.5%, however in the last 13 months since the contract was signed, Metro has continuously failed to adequately meet the tougher performance targets, with over 6,000 trains being cancelled and tens of thousands of services failing to arrive on time.  

Metro time and time again take taxpayers for granted by creaming profits from our network and ignoring the needs of passengers and workers alike. Huge profits should be reinvested in the system as it desperately needs every cent available to ensure the network can meet the needs of future generations, not get shipped offshore to line the pockets of overseas shareholders.

MTRs report boasts that in the first half of 2018, the groups’ revenue increased by 13.9% ($4.7 million AUD) with a chunk of this being thanks to MTM Australia and the new franchise agreement.

While Metro claims to reinvest more than 97% of total revenue back into railway operations annually, the proof is in the pudding with the constant delays and cancellations on our network due to signal faults, track faults and many other issues that we know would not occur if the network was being maintained efficiently.

Perhaps it is time Metro looked at its management structures before poking the stick at the workers who work tirelessly to keep the network running.

It is clear that privatisation has failed Victorian taxpayers and commuters alike. It is time that Public Transport is returned to public ownership to ensure that public interest and service reliability is front and centre.

Luba Grigorovitch
Branch Secretary

March 8 is International Women’s Day; however, the women of the union movement like to celebrate. Consequently, sisters and brothers come together annually and pay tribute to the achievements of our movement in the struggle for equality, and this year was no exception.

International Women’s Day 2019 was another great success for RTBU Women with many events spanning through the week to celebrate working women.

The week began with the kick off event for the Women’s Right’s at Work (WRAW) festival on Friday 1 March with the WRAW Fest Gala. The Gala was a great night with sisters from across the movement and included speed networking, dancing and signing from the Trade Union Choir. It was a great kick off for what was sure to be a huge week of celebrations.

The next big event for RTBU Women was the Feminist Movie Night on Tuesday 5 March which was organised by the RTBU, CFMEU, ETU and MUA. The evening was a great success with RTBU Women in attendance having the opportunity to network with members from other unions, share stories and hear from guest speaker Robynne Murphy from the Women of Steele project. It was also a great honour to have Ged Kearney, Member for Cooper and previous President of the ACTU as the MC for the evening.

After a great night at the movie night, the RTBU held our Annual RTBU International Women’s Day Conference on Thursday 7 March with Women from across every Division of the Union there to discuss the issues facing Women in the public transport industry today.

This year was the 9th RTBU IWD Conference and it is a massive achievement that 9 years later our conference is still going strong. Having been involved in the creation of the RTBU Women’s committee in 2010, it makes me extremely proud to see the event have such huge success and I thank Kellie Grayson, Hannah Scott and Briony Wilson for all their hard work both before and on the day. 

Events like these require a lot of organising and hard work to pull together, and it is thanks to their work and the support of the RTBU Women that we were able to pull together another great conference.

It was great to once again see women from all divisions of the Union in attendance, as well  as the CEOs of all the major public transport operators for the annual CEO panel.

This year there was Raymond O’Flaherty, (Metro Trains CEO), James Pinder, (V/Line CEO), Jeroen Weimar, (PTV CEO) and Nicolas Gindt, (Yarra Trams CEO) who participated in the panel. Each CEO also brought a woman from each of their companies who is in a leadership role to also take part in the panel and this was widely appreciated and successful.  

It was also discussed for following years to have the panel of all CEOs break out into individual sessions for each CEO to discuss issues with women who are employed by their company. This was agreed by all CEOs and we look forward to expanding the panel next year for the conference and the women in attendance having a further opportunity to discuss company specific issues directly with their CEO.

Following from the RTBU Women’s conference, the RTBU participated in the International Women’s Day March and Rally on Friday 8 March (International Women’s Day). The RTBU contingent marched alongside sisters and brothers from the wider union movement with thousands of people in attendance for the rally.

It was a great week of events to celebrate working women across the globe and I am proud of all the work of RTBU Women in making it an unforgettable IWD week.

A union is only as strong as its members and with RTBU Women building strength we can continue the fight to destroy gender inequality.

The next RTBU Women’s meeting will be at Melbourne Central Station on Thursday 11 April at 11am. I encourage Women from all Divisions and workplaces to attend.

Please RSVP to request your release to women@rtbuvic.com.au

Joe Dennis
Organiser

As everyone in aware, the Metro EA is now in full swing. Many meetings have taken place and we will continue to negotiate for members to receive an Enterprise Agreement (EA) that they deserve. V/Line’s EA is also due to expire in June and the date of our first meeting is set for the end of March. The RTBU is eager to begin negotiations for V/Line and have already held meetings with Delegates to compile the log of claims.

In the coming months the Probe (PTV Call Centre) EA is also expiring. The RTBU in conjunction with the National Union of Workers (NUW) and Australian Services Union (ASU) are meeting on a regular basis to discuss the best way to negotiate better pay and conditions for all call centre workers working at Probe. 

Our membership at the PTV call centre has grown in the past few months as members are united in fighting for better conditions and pay in an industry that so desperately needs it. I also want to make special mention to the Delegates of the area for their hard work in increasing the membership in a traditionally non-unionised area.

Three unions united, should be interesting times ahead.  We will keep you updated on the progress of all agreements.

Our members in Drouin have recently consulted with management and received a great outcome in relation to their roster. Some of the members there wanted reduced hours due to commitments outside of work and management were more than accommodating in sitting down with effected members and coming up with a roster that worked for all.

Staff at Drouin also had concerns with staff parking being located so far from their workplace, again with consultation between management and members, a permanent safer location for staff to park is now available.

Last year V/Line introduced a purple customer service vest for staff to wear. As the RTBU were not involved with the original risk assessment, another risk assessment was conducted with HSRs, RTBU Delegates and V/Line management.

As a result, the vest is now able to be worn by staff who perform platform work, coach work, event work and customer service duties.  V/Line have also committed to looking into a possible lighter material for these vests to be made of as they are slightly heavier than the orange safety vest.

The RTBU also have introductory Delegates training coming up on April 10 and 11. If there are any Delegates who have not completed this training, please contact the RTBU to arrange release and a place for you to attend.

Luba Grigorovitch
Branch Secretary

I am pleased to report that after taking some time to get to the table, bargaining is finally underway with the Metro Operations EA. Both Metro and the RTBU have swapped logs of claims and no time was lost before “robust discussions” commenced.

Notably, we sought a commitment from Metro that any vote for a new EA would be via a show of hands as has historically occurred in this industry. Agreement was not made and therefore this will be the first agenda item for the next meeting. We had raised this issue with Metro in good faith, however Metro have made it obvious the way in which they hope to conduct negotiations.

The RTBU is familiar with numerous companies that have used electronic voting to control outcomes and record data on staff voting. Given the presumptive tone of Metro’s glossy bargaining pamphlet “Enterprise Bargaining 2019”, members should be wary of Metro’s posturing or spin.

Numerous members have already raised concerns about the prospect of an electronic vote. Aside from obvious concerns about the privacy of our members, we are also concerned that many of our members will not be able to participate in an electronic vote in the same way they could a show of hands due to technology barriers.

We put our claim to Metro outlining the improvements we seek on behalf of our members providing some background about the interests behind each claim. In return, Metro provided a one-page double-sided document detailing cuts and “flexibilities” which they will be seeking to achieve through the course of bargaining.

The RTBU is willing to negotiate in good faith, but Metro must be aware that “flexibilities” must not be at the expense of working conditions.

Regular bargaining meetings are now scheduled with Metro to occur across Rail Operations, Infrastructure and Rolling Stock.

The Log of Claims as developed in conjunction with Delegates has been circulated to members. If you have not received a copy and would like to see the log please contact the office on 8630 9100 or email rtbu@rtbuvic.com.au. We will ensure your details are updated so you receive the most up to date information about your EA.

Members should be aware that monthly delegate meetings are happening to ensure members are kept in the loop.

V/Line, Yarra Trams, Probe and Bombardier EAs also expire on 30 June this year and we will continue to keep members up to date with developments as they occur.

If you have any queries don’t hesitate to ask your organiser. With more active members across the network everyone is doing their bit to keep the bosses honest, this is your EA!