RTBU seeks urgent clarification over Pacific National job losses

The RTBU is extremely concerned about reports that Pacific National’s parent company Asciano plans to reduce its total workforce by 500 positions. 

RTBU National Secretary Bob Nanva today said the union has been engaged in a dispute with Pacific National over its current redundancy program, which involves around 150 lost jobs in rail operations around the country.

“In particular, we have been concerned that the program is not a genuine redundancy program,” Mr Nanva said.

“Rather, it has been a back-door attempt at casualisation of the workforce, with market fluctuations being used as an excuse to replace permanent positions with labour hire.

“At this point it is not clear whether Pacific National plans to apply another round of redundancies, or if references to the reduction in headcount relate to the current restructuring.

“The RTBU is seeking urgent clarification from the company about its plans, and about the references to job losses in today’s investor briefing.

“If Pacific national is to extend its redundancy program further, then we’ll be gearing up for a fight to protect our members, because we have seen nothing to suggest that more job losses are warranted.”