Bryan Evans
Organiser
The RTBU and John Holllands Group (JHG) have reached an in-principal agreement in what has been a marathon negotiation. The agreement makes great strides to delivering predictable rosters and establishing a fair work life balance.
Firstly, the new agreement solidifies the 36 hour week with tier one contractors in rail. John Hollands being the third contractor to lock in the long sort after condition. More importantly however, it delivers members the right to reasonably refuse proposed roster changes, giving members a rightful say in the hours they work.
This agreement, which is a first for rail tier one contractors, adopts the extended hour provisions established in the Metro Trains Melbourne Infrastructure EA 2015 – 2019, as well as a construction appendix that was sorely lacking in the previous agreement.
Furthermore, the classification structure has been modernised to adopt the rail worker structure in which many members will gain an average pay rise of 6%. Finally, members are set to receive a 20% pay rise over four years.
This agreement will now set the benchmark for all tier one contractors in rail, delivering fair and equitable conditions to members and it is a big step forward in the campaign to standardise tier one conditions. John Hollands members have been extremely patient and disciplined throughout the course of negotiations and should be commended for that. I would like to thank all the RTBU members at John Hollands for their patience throughout these negotiations.
RTBU members met last week and endorsed the in-principle agreement.
