NIF Update

Please see below for a New InterCity Fleet update in the RTBU Express this week.

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Dear members,

Yesterday, your union representatives and NSW Trains were again before the Fair Work Commission. The union reported to the Commission on a number of events that have occurred since the last occasion, including the extensive feedback provided by members on the union’s recent NIF tour. The union put to the Commission that members were angry about the new operating model of the NIF and that they had not received a full picture during the “in the know” sessions (if they had received the session at all!).

Importantly, the union has received information that the position put forward by NSW Trains and Transport for NSW (TfNSW) on the removal of traction interlocking may not be factually correct.

The union has sought the production of documents that set out:

• The results of the tests on the crew cab doors when opened at various speeds;
• The timeline of the contract variation requests; and
• The cancelation of the contract variation request prior to the testing being completed and a final report being provided.

If the position put forward by NSW Trains and TfNSW about the design of the doors is incorrect, then nothing stands in the way of traction interlocking being removed from the crew cab door. If this issue is resolved, then issues around the additional duties to be imposed on drivers and the diminution of the guards role can also be fixed.

The union will be seeking urgent talks with the Minister to discuss this alarming new information. Someone isn’t telling the truth – remember that the Minister promised that the guards’  important role would remain. We’ll be calling on the Minister stand by his promise and pull his bureaucrats into line as our jobs and passenger safety depend on it.

Of course there will still be issues with the NIF that need to be worked through and we will keep ensuring that members voices are heard.

In solidarity,

RTBU NSW