Secretary’s wrap

It’s been a busy couple of weeks here at the Loco Division.

The dispute with Pacific National over its current attempt to make large numbers of jobs redundant has been keeping all of us in the Loco Division very busy – but so far it’s proving to be worth it, with the company agreeing to hold off on forced redundancies for now.

Redundancies are incredibly difficult. We see workers who have been committed to the company for years – sometimes decades – forced to look for new work. It puts real strain on everyone involved, not least the workers themselves and their families. It’s not something we ever take lying down.

The issue of redundancies – particularly forced redundancies – is also raising its head in the current Sydney Trains/NSW Trains enterprise agreement negotiations and is a key part of the ongoing talks. You can read more about the Rail Entities negotiations in the article below.

Politically here in NSW it’s also been a busy time recently with our new Premier Mike Baird announcing that he intends to sell off our electricity poles and wires. The sweetener, he says, being that he’s going to use all the profits from the sale to invest in infrastructure – like a new harbour crossing, rail and roads.

Do you think the NSW public will buy it? With all the evidence from elsewhere in the country showing that prices spike and quality of service drops when vital service are privatised, I somehow doubt it.

Also this week we saw union delegates, including a number from the RTBU, meet in Sydney as part of the Bust the Budget combined delegates meeting.

There’s going to be a mass rally on Sunday 6 June – stay tuned for more details on that one.

Drive safe and I trust you’ll enjoy this Loco Express wrap.

Bob Hayden
Loco Division Secretary