Secretary’s wrap

The recent State Election has meant that we’ve got a new Transport Minister – Andrew Constance MP. Andrew Constance has taken the top transport job over from Gladys Berejiklian who is now Treasurer.

We’ll be seeking meetings with the Minister as soon as practical to discuss his plans for the future of transport in the state – particularly around the pre-election commitment to upgrade the XPT fleet.

The announcement came with little to no detail, so we’ll be pushing the new Minister for information on what exactly the plans are, how he plans to consult with the Loco Division on the issue and how it will impact members.

The announcement, made by the Premier at the National Party launch just prior to the election, was that the new regional trains will cut travel times. We’ll be very keen to discuss how exactly that will happen because to date the Minister hasn’t discussed the issue with the union at all, even despite the possibility of the change having a serious impact on members.

The RTBU was also in the papers today talking about another way to help increase safety on our networks – by introducing DNA testing kits.

Workers being spat on is an unfortunately common, and disgusting, practice. In the UK they introduced ‘spit kits’ around a decade ago to help combat the issue. The kit works by allowing workers to reserve a saliva sample and hand it over to police to match against existing DNA databases.

We’ll be making sure Mr Constance is well aware of the need for a trial of the kits too.

I hope you all had a safe and enjoyable Easter and that you enjoy this edition of Loco Express.

Bob Hayden
Secretary, Loco Division