Newcastle STA – Privatisation Announcement

Bulletin 58 –

To RTBU Members: Newcastle Salaried & Workshop Members

What we know so far:

• The Minister has announced that the government has plans to privatise the buses, light rail and ferry system in Newcastle from Jun 2016.
• The plan is to bundle all the transport system up together and sell them off as one.
• The government has said that it won’t allow State Transit to tender –despite the fact it currently runs both the buses and ferries in the area.
• Thursday was the first the RTBU has heard about this. There has been no consultation with the union at all.

What does this mean for jobs?

• Potential job losses for many RTBU members.
• The RTBU will fight tooth and nail to protect the jobs of workers in the area.

What does this mean for services?

• Unfortunately, we don’t know. We know that private companies need to make money, and that often services suffer as a result.
• When your main aim is to make a profit, you start to cut costs wherever you can. That’s when you start to see things like maintenance and services take a hit. We can’t afford to let that happen in Newcastle.

Why is the government doing this?

• Good question. The State Government has a responsibility to provide reliable, safe and affordable public transport systems. It’s out-sourcing its responsibility to the people of Newcastle.
• This is a classic case of the government putting profits ahead of people.

What is the RTBU doing about it?

• We are completely opposed to the privatisation of our transport systems and will be doing everything we can to get the government to reverse this decision.
• We are seeking urgent meetings with the government to discuss the situation and will feed back all the information we get to the membership as soon as we can.
• We won’t take this lying down.
• If the State Government insists on going down this path, it needs to ensure it allows State Transit – the company currently running the bus and ferry network and which has a long track record in transport management – to tender for the system.
• We will keep you up to date with all the information as we get it.
• RTBU Officials have held a number of onsite meetings with members and are available for member enquiries.

RTBU Newcastle Office: (02) 4969 4665      RTBU Bus Division: (02) 9319 7277