Visit the 
Visit the 
Visit the Sydney Rail Services (SRS) – EA Update
The RTBU Locomotive Division has commenced bargaining on behalf of Sydney Rail Services (SRS) employees for an Enterprise Agreement that will govern your conditions and employment and pay rates at work.
SRS initially approached the RTBU Locomotive Division in 2018 and requested that the RTBU and SRS commence bargaining for an Agreement.
Members may recall that a Notice of Employee Representational Rights (NERR) was issued in May 2018 – the issuance of an NERR is when the bargaining process officially commences under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (‘the Act’). After the NERR was sent out to all employees of SRS, the RTBU Locomotive Division agreed to discuss what an Enterprise Agreement might look like.
Since then, the RTBU Locomotive Division has provided SRS with a draft Enterprise Agreement for SRS to consider, which was modelled on the Lachlan Valley Agreement but modified so as to substantially improve the conditions contained therein. We met once more with SRS to talk the company through these changes and provided SRS a final draft version of this document on 21 January 2019. This document is in no way a final version, as SRS members will have a say on any Agreement that covers them and their employment with SRS.
After the RTBU Locomotive Division provided the draft Agreement for SRS to consider, we heard nothing back from the company other than communication stating that they would review the document we provided. On 04 April 2019 we once again emailed SRS, at which point SRS attempted to avoid having to bargain with the RTBU due to an alleged downturn in work. The RTBU Locomotive Division had to remind SRS as to what their obligations under the Act are, and have since been able to force them back to the table. We have therefore arranged a teleconference for 23 May 2019 to attempt to establish a framework for bargaining. It is our intention to make sure that SRS understands that it is our intention to ensure that employees have a fair Agreement that meets industry standards. We will send out another newsflash after next week’s meeting to update members and advise as to what happens next.
In the meantime, if you are an RTBU member and have any questions or have concerns about your working conditions that you would like to see addressed throughout the Enterprise Agreement negotiations, please call (02) 9264 3400 or email jepps@rtbu-nsw.asn.au. If you are not a member and would like the RTBU to represent you at the bargaining table or to enforce the Agreement (once finalised) on your behalf, then you will need to join the RTBU. You can contact the RTBU Head Office on (02) 9264 3400 for more information on how to do this.
Subscribe
