Two veteran drivers have retired after long years of proud service. Ian Casey has been working the railways for 52 years and Ian (Butch) Collins is just shy of 48 years. There will be a retirement dinner on Saturday March 24 at Club Lithgow. (Retirement Party)

The two Ians’ careers, which kicked off in the era of steam, were covered in their local paper.

RailCorp has knocked back a request from the RTBU to include polo shirts in the uniform for drivers. RailCorp claims it is seeking a more ‘professional image’ for drivers.

This is despite other classifications including supervisors being allowed to wear polo shirts as part of their uniform. The RTBU does not accept RailCorp’s reasoning and will seek guidance from members as to taking the matter further.

Meanwhile, further to the recent story on Loco Express, your uniform committee has met with RailCorp and decided the following:

- Agreement for the provision of the Trousers/Shorts (Pleated/Cargo Style) in charcoal grey

- Lightweight Spray Jackets (Black) to be added to the Uniform provision

- A new lightweight wet weather gear has been sourced

- The green shirt as trialled has been approved and a proof of concept shirt will be manufactured with pocket and buttons altered as per drivers requests. This shirt will be available for viewing in approximately 10 weeks.

The RTBU NSW Locomotive Division has reaffirmed its strong support for Japanese train drivers unfairly prisoned on charges of union coercion.

This week, a Japanese court dismissed the final appeal in the JR Urawa Electric Train Depot case.

The Japan Rail Union is a sister union of the RTBU. As such, the RTBU has and will continue to offer strong support, said NSW Loco Division Secretary Bob Hayden.

“The JRU7 are seven rail workers and unionists who were thrown in jail simply for organising in their workplace,” said Bob.

“International solidarity is critical to protecting the right to organise and participate in trade union activities anywhere in the world.

“On behalf of our Division, I have sent a strong message of support to the JRU7 on this setback to their campaign for justice.”

The JRU7 were arrested on November 1, 2002 and have been held in jail ever since.

They have won widespread support, with approximately 100,000 union members and supporters gathering in Tokyo to hear court proceedings.

Strenuous campaigning by the RTBU has delivered mandatory shift lengths for Queensland train drivers.

The Queensland Government has announced the new measures – similar to those in place in NSW – to manage fatigue and boost safety across the state’s growing rail network.

The new mandatory maximum shift lengths will provide a safeguard against rogue operators exploiting workers for quick profits – forcing drivers to work dangerously long shifts and have shorter rest breaks.

It will also put a stop to attempts to grind away workers conditions as seen recently when GRN attempted to amend their Traincrew Agreement to include longer shifts for single drivers. It will also significantly increase pressure on employers to adhere to mandatory hours during the transition time allowed to implement any staff reviews or roster changes.

The changes mean that for trains with two drivers the maximum shift length would be 12 hours and for single-driver locomotives, a nine hour maximum will be introduced.

The new standards also introduce a requirement that drivers take a minimum of 12 hours break between each shift where the driver ends a shift at a home depot and 8 hours break when away from the home depot.

Queensland’s rail industry is growing rapidly in line with the state’s mining boom, with a number of new operators and increased competition. While the new standards are in place, industry will be allowed 12 months to transition to the new requirements.

The RTBU has hailed the decision as an important advancement to safety within the industry and progress towards achieving national industry standards in key areas.

Details of the new minimum standard provision:

*             In the case of a two driver operation (including where the second person is a qualified train driver who is learning the route or undergoing an assessment), the maximum shift length is 12 hours.

*             In the case of a one driver operation, the maximum shift length is 9 hours.

*             In the case of suburban passenger rail operations, the maximum time at the driving controls is 8 hours.

*             There is to be a break of at least 12 continuous hours between each shift where the driver ends a shift at the home depot (a ‘home depot’ is the work location to which an employee has been appointed).

*             There is to be a break of at least 8 continuous hours between each shift where the driver ends a shift at an away depot.

*             A maximum number of 12 shifts and a maximum 132 hours to be worked in any 14 day period.

The NSW Government will fork out $6.3 million to a consulting firm for less than four months work to review RailCorp operations.

The RTBU has warned it will not tolerate any job cuts stemming from the review, and insists any savings found should be invested back into the transport system.

Hitting back at the New South Wales Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian’s comments that RailCorp was unsustainable and inefficient, the RTBU pointed out that rising costs are not due to frontline staff but the serious lack of infrastructure investment in the 150-year-old network.

Conducted over the coming months, the review will be headed by David Callahan, who as the former head of Sydney Ferries, prepared the organisation for privatisation. The union is now concerned that his appointment will put the privatisation of RailCorp back on the agenda.

The union has called for wide-ranging consultation during the review process with the RTBU and also its experienced employees who work day-to-day and understand first-hand the challenges presented by the degraded and outdated rail system.

In particular the review must focus on ways to improve the current system and investigate the key problem areas of passenger safety and cleanliness on the network. While the Transport Minister has refused to rule out job cuts, axing frontline positions would only lead to more services difficulties and frustration for passengers.

Recently the Division has been advised by RailCorp that the Operations Support and Rollingstock divisions have conducted a review of crew requirements for fault finding shifts, exchange car shifts and mechanical control shifts.

The following changes have been proposed as a result of the review. Read more »

Recently the Division was advised by RailCorp that “in accordance with clause 141 of the RailCorp Enterprise Agreement 2010”, it has developed a proposal to offer current full-time suburban train crew employees the opportunity to convert to part-time employment.

Read more »

Stage 1 Training

Delegate training has continued through 2011 – with 20 delegates being trained in 2011, up from 11 in 2010.

Stage 2 Training

Delegates are advised that the following dates have been set for Delegate Stage 2 Training this year:

It has taken a while for training to be arranged due to the day-to-day workload of officers over the past 12 months.   While it is not expected that next year will be any easier, we have now set the dates in advance so that delegates can plan ahead.

OH&S Training

Further to the above, 12 RailCorp Locomotive Division OH&S Delegates were the first to be trained in the new National OH&S legislation late 2011.  Further training is being organised for 2012.

Brendan Lemay has been a RTBU delegate at Cootamundra for less than 12 months but in that short time has transformed his workplace. Since taking on the position of Depot Organiser he has increased membership in Cootamundra PN Bulk from 46 per cent to almost 100 per cent and has built a full depot organising committee.

Starting at PN in 2003 as a trainee Brendan transferred to Parramatta to become a crewing coordinator in 2008 when the drought meant the number of drivers at ‘Coota’ were cut from 46 to 17. A restructuring at PN in 2008 then saw him return to his home town.

“When I got back there was no delegate at the depot. There were a lot of issues that the guys were unhappy about and, because I had experience on both sides of the fence and an insight into rostering and how the railway works, they urged me to take on the role,” he explains.

Worried that the good working relationship with management he’d had built up would be damaged, Brendan was hesitant to get involved. In the end, he says, it was the gradual attack on our conditions over the last three EAs that convinced him that something needed to be done.

“When I started in 2003 we had support staff, shunters in the yard and shift supervisors. Now we are unmanned a lot of the time and, because of the shortage of drivers, the shifts are longer. Also new drivers are being pushed through training too quickly and are being sent out green after only 12 months.”

He says that previously there was a culture of give and take, now it’s just take.

The biggest issue of concern to the RTBU at Coota is the new master roster which is unreasonable, does not reflect the rising workloads and is extremely family unfriendly, with some drivers working 80 to 110 hours a fortnight when they should be working a 76-hour fortnight.

“Drivers are rostered to maximum shift lengths all the time,” says Brendan. “And there has recently been 81 shift breaches for drivers working outside their conditions.”

One of his first goals was to increase membership because during the last EA negotiations they fell short by a couple of votes. With 67 drivers with another 17 starting in the New Year, the key he says was to take every available opportunity to talk to people in the meal rooms, getting their opinions and listening to their issues.

“There was already a will to be unionised and to make change at the depot – it just needed to be organised,” he says. “Once we started talking the momentum built naturally by word of mouth, and now the membership is up, the mood is different at the depot, it’s far more positive with a sense of the drivers wanting to stick together to make things better,” he says.

“Being a delegate can be stressful and time consuming because people expect you to be able to solve all the problems – and my wife is not all that keen on me doing the extra work. I’m hoping that with all the new members and a good outcome at the EA in 2012 it may not be so intense. Then I can step back to a support role and members will have the ability to handle issues themselves.

Whenever I have needed it, support has always come from the Locomotive Division Officers, and never have I been left on my own or ignored when I’ve asked for advice or support.

“I don’t have ambitions to take my union career further. I joined to make a better workplace for me and my mates, if I can do that it will have been worthwhile.”

The Campbelltown Depot Social Club recently held a farewell evening for several senior drivers who had just retired. The nine retirees have all been long-term drivers at the Campbelltown Depot and were farewelled by more than one hundred fellow train crew, retired drivers and other staff. The retiring drivers are Owen Dunn, Graham Power, Ashley King, Wayne Proctor, Phil Westlink, Gary Allen, Laurie McDonald, Brian Irlam and Mal Fordham.

The RTBU Locomotive Division would like to take this opportunity to farewell these drivers and thank them for their long-term membership of the Loco Division. Additionally, the Loco Division wishes them a long and happy retirement, and thanks the Campbelltown Social Club for organising this well-run and well-attended event.

Due to limited access and safety concerns about an elevated walkway at Clyde fuelling point, earlier this year members requested that the RTBU conduct an OH&S evaluation.

The inspection identified a number of safety concerns and, after a significant amount of work, representatives have come up with a number of solutions including increasing the access opening of the hand railings on both sides at the fuelling and oiling position, and the construction of access gates/restraints on the elevated walk way.

A trial of these solutions at PN went well and the job of constructing the gates has been put out to tender with the installation expected to take place next year.