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Member Update: January 13 2023
Dear Members,
Happy New Year! We trust members had a restful and safe break over the holiday period. It's been a busy week for the Union, and we've dived into the new year headfirst, and a lot has been happening this week.
Members can find a full breakdown of the Election results in this week's edition of the Tram and Bus Express. We know it's been a long wait, but it's taken until the New Year to confirm the results.
As the NSW State elections are fast approaching, we look forward to electing a more sympathetic Labor government that will have to be nudged on some issues. With this in mind, the return of the Home and Duty passes for employees is at the top of our list. Read more
on this below.
After Anthony Short, the Mona Vale Delegate, raised concerns about bus operations in Avalon, the Union directly requested Keolis Downer Northern Beaches for a Risk Assessment to be completed. The company found that the chicane on Old Barrenjoey Road was unsafe, and these issues would be solved by stopping buses from travelling down Old Barrenjoey Road. The diversion notice has been included down below.
Regarding bargaining for CMET, the replacement of the Greenfield Agreement has workers who can look forward to a 4% pay increase backdated to the middle of last year as soon as the Fairwork Commission approves the Agreement.
Bargaining for Region 6 is still continuing, with a high-level meeting taking place today with officials from both unions and the company. Find more details below. Find more on this further down below.
Following this, bargaining for Region 7 continues, with a long series of bargaining meetings with busways being held today. The company has taken on our clause-by-clause feedback of their last draft and is going back to redraft it. For more on this, find the article below.
And for Wickham Trams, bargaining has paused for the moment while a shuffling of staff on both sides settles down. The Union has presented our log of claims.
In other news, Hamilton Bus depot Delegate, Robert Matthews, is helping out a fellow Bus Driver, George Michael, who recently lost a son and had to take a leave of absence. A go fund has been set up for George to help provide some support in paying bills during this extremely devastating time. A link can be found down below.
Election results
It took into the new year but the following successful candidates of the election are now confirmed and copied directly from the AEC advice. Congratulations to those who were elected.
Branch Divisional Secretary (1)
• BABINEAU, David
Branch Divisional President (1)
• GRECH, Peter
Branch Divisional Vice-President (1)
• BAKOPOULOS, Antonios
Branch Divisional Delegate - Randwick Bus Depot
• EDDY, Bruce
Tram and Bus Division - Branch Council Delegate Affirmative Action (1)
• BLAKE, Anna
Assistant Branch Secretary (Road) (1)
• GRECH, Peter
Divisional Delegates to Branch Council (4)
• SMYTHE, Robert Alexander
• FENNER, Lance
• PAPADOPOULOS, Panayiotis
• CANTY, Robbie
Branch Delegates to the National Executive (3)
• BABINEAU, David
• CAMPBELL, Farren
• TURNER, Craig
National Divisional Delegates from Branch to National Council (4)
• FIELDSEND, Nick
• PETERS, Brett
• EDDY, Bruce
• SARKER, Ash
WPI and pay rises
During privatisation of Sydney’s buses over the last two years, in the Northern beaches and Eastern suburbs the Union negotiated the opportunity to carry over govt conditions into the private sector. Members voted to pursue that path at the cost of tying payrises to the WPI figures.
The WPI used is for March each year and is the ‘Transport, postal and warehousing Public and Private’ (Cat.6345 Table 5b). This is in the Agreements which can be found at the Tram and Bus Express website under the ‘Your Award/Agreement’ tab.
This is different to the headline WPI figure and is specific to our industry. The last March figure was approximately 1.9%. Following approaches from the RTBU, both Keolis Downer Northern Beaches and Transdev JohnHolland Buses agreed to bump that figure up to 2%. Pay increases are due to be delivered in the first full pay period and backdated to January 1st this year.
In Region 7 (Ryde & Willoughby depots), Busways had said they would be passing something on even though there is no scheduled pay rise (because TfNSW would not give us an Agreement longer than 2 years). We tried reaching out for confirmation around Christmas but management was largely unavailable, but it looks like they have passed on the exact WPI figure.
The reason that companies like the WPI figure is because of the contracts they operate. TfNSW guarantees them that figure to pass on to workers. By taking only that specific WPI figure, pay rises are not costing the companies anything.
In the Northern Beaches and Eastern Suburbs, this situation is ONLY for the life of each Agreement and will not be repeated; the next negotiation for each of those regions will be all about the money because we have largely secured our conditions which are ALWAYS harder to come by.
NSW State Election
As we come towards the NSW State election at the end of March, we look forward to electing a more sympathetic Labor government. While we will no doubt have to push them, at least we know that they are more willing to work with Unions and understand that when we speak, we are not speaking for ourselves as organisations but for our members. Top of the list is the return of the Home and Duty passes for employees, ensuring there are no more two-tiered workplaces set up, pushing for TfNSW to extend funding for more entitlements for employees of companies operating TfNSW contracts. Longer term items include an industry wide Agreement and bringing buses back into public hands.
We encourage all members to make themselves available to assist those who do the work of representing workers in the political space during the election.
Avalon route changes
After Anthony Short (the Mona Vale delegate) raised several issues around bus operations in Avalon on Sydney’s Northern beaches (yet again!), the RTBU made a direct request to Keolis Downer Northern Beaches for a Risk Assessment to be completed. The company found that the chicane on Old Barrenjoey Road was unsafe, and while we had other issues (such as the left turn into Old Barrenjoey Rd from Barrenjoey Rd), all these issues are effectively solved by stopping buses from travelling down Old Barrenjoey Road.
While the RTBU had threatened to instruct drivers not to travel that route for safety reasons, it proved unnecessary as to their credit, KDNB dealt with TfNSW, route changes, public info and driver notification in the space of a single day with alterations made on a Friday and starting on a Saturday.
The route changes will be made permanent until the issue of space is solved in that location and we may have to revisit the issue then, but for now there will be a roster adjustment as the new running times are locked into scheduling arrangements.
Congrats to the delegate at Mona Vale and to members who contributed to reporting incidents; without evidence we can do nothing.
You can read the diversion notices here.
Industrial Updates
CMET Bargaining
The Bargaining for a replacement of the Greenfield Agreement previously in place has now concluded. As soon as the Fair Work Commission approves the Agreement, workers can look forward to a 4% pay increase back dated to the middle of last year. There will then be a 3% increase around the middle of this year. There will also be classification changes as there was a new grade negotiated for both Drivers and CSO/AOs, and each grade got a bump of roughly a dollar or more before any pay rise is considered.
All in all, with the other changes made this was a good step forward in improving the working conditions of employees at CMET. We encourage employees to join the RTBU and together we can work towards ensuring fairness in the workplace and an even better outcome next time.
Region 6 Bargaining
The Region 6 bargaining continues on with the last EA offering by the company voted down by over 90% of employees. There was a high level meeting today with officials from both unions and the company. It has been agreed that there will be a combined Union caucus Thursday next week with a bargaining meeting to follow that same day. With 90% of members rejecting the company offer, Unions have been given a clear indication that members demand better and we are planning a new period of industrial action to push for a better offer.
There remains the challenge of the Copied State Award expiring at the end of June this year, and the prospect that we may end up in the Fair Work Commission for conciliation or Arbitration. The meeting next week is crucial to finding a way forward either way.
Members can read the last bulletin sent to region 6 members following the ‘NO’ vote here.
Region 7 Bargaining
Following a long series of bargaining meetings with busways, the company has taken on our clause-by-clause feedback of their last draft and are going back to redraft it. This document will be run through several of their departments and then presented to the RTBU towards the end of February. We will then be starting an intensive series of meetings of 2-3 per week and should be in a position to report back on that process very quickly.
Members are encouraged to talk to non-union workers; if we need to take industrial actin to press our claims for better pay, ONLY UNION MEMBERS CAN TAKE ACTION. If people don’t want to fight for a better outcome then we will not get one.
You can read the last bulletin sent to Region 7 members here.
Whickham Trams Bargaining
Bargaining at Newcastle trams has paused for the moment while a shuffling of staff on both sides settles down. The union has presented our log of claims and there remains the complexity of two Agreements being negotiated; one for workers on the trams and one ‘intermodal’ that has impacts on Buses and Ferries in Newcastle. As soon as we have movement on negotiations a bulletin to members will follow.
A message from the Hamilton Bus depot Delegate to all Members.
Hello, my name is Robert Matthews, and I am helping out a fellow Bus Driver, George Michael who has recently lost a son and had to take a leave of absence.
This is just a way to support our brother and friend in this very trying time. Any funds will go directly to Michael to help him pay some bills.
Any donation will be greatly appreciated by both me and George.
In solidarity,
David Babineau and Peter Grech
