“It is not a simple pass for our members – it is a badge of honour they must receive in recognition of giving 2 decades of their lives to public transport.”
The fight continues! As members know – the current PTV policy states that if you joined public transport after 1999, you are not entitled to the retirement travel pass. Jeff Kennett’s privatisation agenda took this entitlement away from public transport workers.
We are fighting tooth and nail to restore this entitlement for RTBU members.
“We cannot allow Jeff Kennett to continue to hurt our workers in 2023.”
We have been pushing the Victorian Government for a year to change the current PTV policy so all public transport workers who do 20 overs on the job regardless of your start date are entitled to the travel pass. And we will continue this fight.
At the Labor State Conference last month which was attended by the Prime Minister, Victorian Premier, Minister for Public Transport and various other ministers and MPs along with around 600 delegates and 200 observers, we passed the following resolution:
Long Service Retirement Travel Pass
Workers in the public transport industry have long been entitled to a public transport retirement travel pass upon completion of 20 years’ service when they retire.
Current PTV policy considers employees who commenced work post-privatisation to be ineligible for the retirement travel pass despite their lengthy employment and service to Victorian commuters.
We are still feeling the effects of Kennett’s brutal attacks on workers in the 90s.
That State Conference resolves that all Victorian public transport workers who complete 20 years’ service be afforded the Retirement Travel Pass regardless of when they commenced in the industry, rectifying a glaring inequality created by the privatisation of the public transport system.
Moving Forward
We will keep pushing the Government to change the PTV policy. Additionally, the claim for travel pass is now on all our log of claims for the Enterprise Agreements 2023 bargaining round. Members who have already retired after doing 20 overs and have been knocked back by the PTV will absolutely not be forgotten and are part of this campaign.
Feel free to call me on 0413 363 923 should you want to get more information.
