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Visit the Union dues and legal levy
RTBU union dues will increase by 3.5% from July, based on the Railcorp Enterprise Agreement wage increase.
The new due cost will come into effect on or after the 1st of July 2012, making the new fortnightly rate:
Locomotive Division full-time: $22.25/fortnight
Rail part-time/casual/apprentice: $12.30/fortnight
The RTBU is also adding a small additional fortnightly payment of $1.50 to fund a special legal and industrial levy for all Rail Division members, which will come into effect at the same time as the percentage increase.
This additional payment will not apply Locomotive Division members yet, but is on the agenda for discussion at our next Locomotive Divisional Council meeting on June 13th and 14th.
The special levy, if recommended and approved for the Locomotive Division, will be used to prepare and fund legal and industrial battles, which are currently funded from revenue and budgets.
Divisional Secretary Bob Hayden said that a dedicated levy would allow the division to provide a much higher quality of legal support for members.
“The need for a higher quality legal representation is becoming increasingly evident. We’re growing trend of employers using legal representation and appealing decisions that don’t go in their favour and we need to ensure we’re in the best possible position to represent members.
“We also anticipate a growing number of battles around the operation of Transport for NSW – privatisation attempts, attempts to erode conditions, job losses – so we need to be in a position to react swiftly and effectively to anything employers throw at us.
“We also want the Division to be getting on the front foot more, rather than simply reacting when necessary to legal issues and a levy could make that possible. A levy would also allow us to bring in external legal support and advice when required.
“No one wants to pay more money, but in order to ensure the union can continue to stand up for the rights of locomotive drivers we do need to look at introducing a levy or something similar.”
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