Secretary’s wrap

Things are getting very interesting in Sydney Trains. The Loco Division was called into a meeting recently to discuss the company’s desire to begin a ‘conversation’ about their ‘reform’ plans…

In the 2014 enterprise agreement, we managed to get a clause that ensured that if the company wanted to make changes to certain working conditions, for example the train crew shift lengths and rostering, it would have to get agreement from its employees first, rather than just pushing ahead with what they wanted.

Bob Hayden, Divisional Secretary

The company now wants to start the process of getting members’ agreement, and it’s calling the process the “Future Operations” project.

The process didn’t get off to a great start, with the company holding a short 2 hour briefing with Loco Division Executive representatives before handing out a copy of documents they had prepared in advance which they intended to distribute to employees later that day. The employee Q&A document made it sound as though the union was happy with and had already started taking about their plans which is not the case at all.

You can read more about the issue in the article below, but one thing is very clear – this is going to be the start of a long and potentially difficult and frustrating process for us all. Stay tuned and watch out for regular updates and members can be assured the Division will not be supporting anything which members will not agree to / support. The process will be owned by the members and delegates.

On a brighter note, I hope all of our regional members will get a chance to head along to one of the RTBU regional BBQs taking place over the coming weeks. The first one kicks off in Taree on Monday. The RTBU BBQs are a great chance to have your say on issues impacting you, and to grab a snag! Hope to see you there.

I trust you’ll enjoy this (new look!) edition of Loco Express. Stay safe on the tracks.

Bob Hayden
Secretary, Loco Division