Secretary’s wrap

The discussions about Sydney Trains reform aren’t going away anytime soon. We’ve been in further discussions with the company recently, and you can see all the updates on that here on the website.

We may not have a lot of information from the company about what it wants to do yet, but we do know that sectorisation and ‘cluster’ depots are part of their thinking. We recently launched another quick online survey to make sure member have a chance to let us know what you think about these issues. If you haven’t already filled in the survey, take a moment to do it now. 

In the world of Freight, the Brookfield Infrastructure bid to take of Asciano has got even more interesting, with Brookfield this week revealing plans to take an offer directly to shareholders. The group snapped up 14.99 per cent of the group’s shares last night. This comes after Qube bought up a 19.99 per cent stake in Asciano. You can read all about the board-room to-ing and fro-ing here in the Australian Financial Review.

We are obviously watching this very closely and will be seeking answers as to what, if anything, this will mean for workers in the future.

We’re also keeping a close eye on Aurizon’s move to introduce inward facing cameras in train cabs. When the National Locomotive Council met recently, this was a big focus of our conversations. You can see an outline of all our concerns and proposed actions here.

And finally, our comrades in the Bus Division have take a big hit this week, with the NSW Government announcing that it is going to sell of Newcastle buses, ferries and light rail.

We know the risk of privatisation . Not only are we going to have to do whatever we can to assist those in the Bus Division, but we’re also going to look at this as a blueprint for what the NSW Government may want to do elsewhere.

I trust you’ll enjoy this edition of Loco Express. Stay safe on the tracks.

Bob Hayden

Secretary, Loco Division