Railtrain: non-Union EA voted down

In a significant update to members, we can now report that RailTrain’s proposed enterprise agreement has come to a grinding halt, after a resounding no-vote from the workforce. RTBU Locomotive members have communicated a strong message to RailTrain management that they want to see fair pay and better conditions. Members have rallied behind the principle of fairness, demanding that compensation should not be arbitrarily inconsistent among colleagues performing similar duties. The strong no vote, has underscored the resolve of the workforce to secure better rights and pay. 

Members have shown they see through the company’s smokescreens and won’t be pushed into an inferior agreement that could see them locked into an agreement well below industry standard. 

Where to from here? 

Members will have seen Railtrain’s correspondence from earlier in the week re engaging with their workforce. Long term members have seen this same rhetoric before and understand it’s a carefully crafted statement to make out they are interested, when the fact is the company have not listened from the start when negotiations were first forced on them. RailTrain have, on a number of occasions, made clear to one and all their intent is to never have an agreement that matches pay and conditions of their host companies. 

The RTBU Locomotive Division will meet with RailTrain as and when required, but unless there are very substantial improvements to the pay and conditions on offer, we do not anticipate reaching an agreed position on a replacement enterprise agreement until we have clarity on the Same Job Same Pay provisions, which the government has indicated it will be introducing to the parliament in September. 

With the backdrop of this verdict, the bargaining process has entered a critical phase, and will test the bounds of cooperation and compromise. In the days ahead, all eyes will remain focused on the company and what it’s next steps will be. 

We will keep you posted. 

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