Luba Grigorovitch
Branch Secretary
With the state election on our doorstep, all candidates and parties are speaking about Public Transport and investment in rail. While RTBU members have continued to work tirelessly over the past three decades of financial drought, it is refreshing to see public support for an improved rail network.
No matter who is successful at this election or who holds the balance of power, we must continue to fight for progress that delivers on the needs of our industry, and most importantly RTBU members.
To get the message across and keep the ball rolling in a new term of government, the RTBU is compiling a list of demands and issues requiring attention. We want to see continued investment in the network, but also structural change that delivers better governance and provides greater attention to the needs of staff throughout Victoria’s rail renaissance.
In developing this document we have held discussions with numerous Delegates and Members to best understand specific issues and identify best practice solutions. This collaborative effort makes our case stronger and such intel will help to maintain pressure on the government.
To improve the network we are calling on the government to commit to supporting the following demands:
– Staff all stations: A safe, reliable and efficient rail system relied on skilled staff mediating the passenger/infrastructure interface. All new stations must be fully staffed from first to last train as a matter of urgency.
– 2-up staffing on barriers for the safety of frontline staff who are too often subjected to abuse
– A new regional train maintenance facility to deal with growing demand and reliability on the V/Line network
– Infrastructure Evaluation Vehicle (IEV) to be taken off Metro to improve oversight of reporting on track condition. This core infrastructure safety function must not be run for the sake of profit.
– Full-time work for all safety-critical maintenance work: Safeworkers who are responsible for managing the safety of all other rail workers working in the rail corridor must have the security of full-time work to enable them to speak out on issues of safety.
– Additional Train Controllers: Train Controllers are currently working large amounts of overtime in good faith to keep the network running. These long hours increase risk associated with fatigue and additional numbers are required to ensure the network can run more safely and more reliably.
– Bring PTV call centre back in-house: currently outsourced to Probe who employ a highly casualised workforce. Employees are subjected to enormous levels of verbal abuse and are provided with little support. These workers are required to hold a deep understanding of journey planning, disruptions and timetables and perform a critical and ongoing role. As such it must be brought back into the hands of PTV.
If any members would like to contribute their ideas to the further formation of RTBU demands, please don’t hesitate to send in an email to rtbu@rtbuvic.com.au
