Latest news and progress

Proposed V/Line Operations Agreement Vote

The proposed V/Line Rail Operation Agreement has been overwhelmingly approved with a 91% YES vote!

Now that the Agreement has been made it will be lodged with the Fair Work Commission for approval. This may take some weeks, depending on the Commission’s workload.

The Agreement will come into operation 7 days after it has been approved.

Proposed V/Line Operations Enterprise Agreement

Proposed V/Line Rail Operations and Administrative Employees Agreement 2019 is available here: proposed V/Line Operations Enterprise Agreement.

To comply with the Victorian Government’s bargaining policy, the pay rates are made up of wage increases and the All Purpose Allowance (described as a Modernised Operations Allowance). More information about the structure of the pay increases can be found here.

Access Period Commenced

The proposed V/Line Operations Enterprise Agreement has been approved by government. The proposed Enterprise Agreement has been made available to members for final review through the access period which commenced Thursday, 30 July.

The access period is important because it gives all employees who would be affected by the proposed Enterprise Agreement the chance to read and understand the content and make an informed decision about how to vote.

A minimum of 7 days is required by the Fair Work Act 2009, however, the RTBU has ensured that the access period is 14 days total.

Voting for the proposed enterprise agreement will commence on Friday, 14 August at 9am and will close on Monday, 17 August at 5pm.

The RTBU will be hosting meetings across the state to enable members to clarify any queries. Meetings will be held in compliance with DHHS physical distancing requirements. For members who would prefer to engage online, we will also be hosting online Q&A sessions.

A timetable of meetings is available here.

We will update members further with information on voting and key questions.

FAQ: 10 Ordinary Hours

There has been one clause that has generated more discussion and questions than any other, Clause 56: Length of Shifts.

This document contains Clause 56 as it will be written in the Enterprise Agreement as also explain what each part means.

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1 July 2020 – EA FAQ

This document contains frequently asked questions.

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V/Line EA Enquiry

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In-Principle Agreement: Pay, Improvements and Changes

At the mediation on 1 July, V/Line put a pay proposal of 11% over 4 years. Following pressure from the RTBU, V/Line later also agreed to a sign-on bonus of $2,000.

The proposed agreement would also include the following improvements:

Public holiday credits: the ability to have the option of working a public holiday for 250% penalty rate OR 150% penalty rate plus a day off
The ability to purchase 4 weeks annual leave through salary sacrificing
28 days notice of changes to the master roster
Improvements to the trauma leave clause
Mistakes in wages must be rectified within 72 hours
Improvements to parental leave including:
- An additional 2 weeks parental leave for the primary carer
- An additional week of leave for the secondary carer
- Superannuation on 38 weeks of unpaid parental leave
Improvements to the supplementary labour hire clause
Women’s advocates will have the same rights as delegates
Inclusion of a flexible working arrangements clause
Inclusion of Incolink as an opt in, salary sacrificed system
Inclusion of gendered violence and sexual harassment clauses

The proposal includes the following changes for Rail Operations Members:

A new trainee rate for the station grade, limited to 3 months.
A new rostering clause to allow, by agreement of 75% of the local workgroup, to extend ordinary hours to 10 hours per day.
Clarification in the agreement that part-timers can nominate additional days that they are available to work. Part-time employees would not be obliged to work any additional days offered. If they do agree, they would be paid at ordinary rates as per the current EBA.
Ability to vary conductor preparation times, by majority agreement only.

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Logs of claims and Victorian Government policy

The RTBU developed a log of claims in consultation with V/Line Delegates. View the RTBU Log of Claims here.

V/Line claims for Rail Operations includes:

V/Line initial Log of Claims
Throughout bargaining, V/Line pursued additional claims in relation to Rail Operations employees (other than Drivers) for:
- “flexible” part-time employment; and
- the ability to roster employees to work more than 8 ordinary hours in a shift.

View the Victorian Government Wages policy and the Enterprise Bargaining Framework.

The following is a progress report of RTBU claims prior to commencement of mediation. It includes claims except claims that only relate to the Locomotive Division: RTBU EA 2019 Claims Summary.