Railcorp slashes almost 700 jobs

Another 690 jobs have today been axed from Railcorp – a move the RTBU says will cost commuters. 

The total number includes 450 maintenance jobs as well as 130 station manager positions. The cuts are in addition to the 750 jobs which were axed earlier in the year.

Loco Division Secretary Bob Hayden said the State Government’s decision to cut one in ten jobs in Railcorp is a shocking error of judgement that will come back to bite them in the near future.

“How you increase customer service by cutting the number of people delivering that service is beyond me,” Bob Hayden said.

“These workers are essential to the safety, cleanliness and efficient running of our stations. They’re workers with a wealth of experience and knowledge that will be lost thanks to this short-sighted, rash decision.

The Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian today announced that Railcorp will case to exist on July 1 and be replaced by Sydney trains and NSW trains. In addition she announced:

• 450 rail maintenance workers will lose their jobs
• 240 other Railcorp workers will be axed – however no detail on who they are or where they currently work has been released
• Experienced station managers at 116 stations will be lost
• Drug and alcohol testing will be outsourced
• Rail maintenance depots will close
• Incident response teams will be removed.

Bob Hayden said there was good news – with the government today backing down on its planned staff review process in stations.

The RTBU and other affected unions will be meeting with the Government over the coming days

Read the RTBU Transport Watchdog bulletin here