Member Update: September 2, 2022

Dear Members,

Region 6 members took strike action together with the TWU on Wednesday with two peak-hour stoppages following Transit Systems' refusal to accept key claims that will ensure 'Same Job, Same Pay'.

Rather than giving workers doing the exact same job the same fair wages and conditions, TSA instead reverted back to the old and tired tactic of blame-shifting.

Members have had enough, and these powerful stoppages sent a clear message to the company that common sense will prevail. Well done to everyone for sticking it out together and taking action!

View some pictures and videos of the day on the Tram & Bus website here.

For members in Region 7, we'll be meeting again with Busways next Friday September 9 to go over their redrafted proposal. More to come following this meeting.

We also met with CMET last Friday 26th of August. We have in-principle agreement on several issues but the final form of these is not yet agreed to. You can find these listed in this edition of the Express.

And in Randwick Trams, we're ready to welcome our next Delegate. Expressions of Interest are now open for the role, so if you've ever thought about becoming a union Delegate this is your chance to put your name down!

We hope that you continue to stay safe and well.

Region 6 EA Update

We took strike action with the TWU on Wednesday with two peak-hour stoppages between 4am-7am and 2:30pm-5:30pm.

It was great to see so many members standing together, fighting for fairness and holding TSA to account - and by extension the NSW Government for botching their privatisation of Sydney buses in the first place.

View some pictures and videos of some of our members explaining why they're striking on the Tram & Bus website here.

The catalyst for this action was Transit Systems' refusal to agree to the following key claims during a bargaining meeting on Wednesday 24 August.

All Broken Shifts must be limited to a maximum spread of 12 hours
Broken Shift loadings must be paid at 150% after 9.5 hours and 200% after 10.5 hours
AM/PM Shift Loadings of 15% between 5pm-12pm, 50% between 12am-4.30am and 15% between 4.30am-7am (with penalties paid across entire shift finishing after 8pm).

These claims are crucial to ensuring ‘Same Job Same Pay’ – protecting the conditions of legacy drivers and lifting 900 drivers - yet Transit Systems have once again stooped to shifting the blame away from themselves.

RTBU Bus & Tram Division Secretary David Babineau said it’s disappointing the NSW Government let things get to this point.

"Same Job, Same Pay has been at the cornerstone of our negotiations, yet Transit Systems are continuing to undermine claims that are critical to ensuring this.
"By botching the privatisation of Sydney's buses they've left workers under unfair and unsustainable conditions. This cannot continue.
"Old and tired excuses and blame-shifting stopped working long ago. Giving workers doing the exact same job the exact same pay and conditions is not only fair, it's just common sense.
"We're confident that commuters will understand that such an arrangement is unfair for anyone. We don’t take action like this lightly, but we're left with no other options.
"Hopefully we can get back to bargaining as soon as possible."

Read the latest bulletin that went out to members here.

Region 7 EA Update

Thank you to everyone for your patience during this ongoing process.

We have a meeting scheduled with Busways on September 9. In this meeting, we will go over their redrafted EA after taking into account the union's position on their original proposal.

At this time we expect to be able to put forward some genuine offers from the company and start discussing details of what is being proposed.

Once we have more detail depot meetings will be held to field questions and seek direction from members.

CMET EA Update

The last bargaining meeting for CMET was Friday 26th of August. We have in-principle agreement on several issues but the final form of these is not yet agreed to. This includes:

Restructuring the progression steps for workgroups. This includes adding another level of seniority to achieve as well as increasing the pay of each workgroup by over a dollar an hour. This is separate from discussions about pay rises.
Increasing the mentor rate to 10%.
Increasing the Split Shift allowance; no figure has been settled on yet.
Increasing the night shift penalty; we’re working on the times and amounts to make sure people aren’t cut out of existing entitlements and the penalty rate is raised.
COVID leave. Unsure how this will look in its final form, a few ideas are still bouncing around but the idea of non-cumulative leave to be available for declared pandemics is something both parties have agreed to in principle.
2 paid rest breaks for the CSO/AOs.

You can read the bulletin sent to CMET members here.

Randwick Trams - EOI for Workplace Delegate

An expression of interest has gone out for tram members in Randwick Tram Depot to nominate for workplace delegate. If more than one person nominates for the role, a ballot will be held.

If you've ever considered being a union delegate, here's your chance to get involved!

In solidarity,

David Babineau and Daniel Jaggers