Our Rights Our Fight Campaign

May

• The Government of New South Wales announced its intention to purchase new carriages for the NSW TrainLink Intercity network

August

• Expressions of interest from manufacturers were called for – with responses from Alstom, Bombardier Transportations, CAF, Downer Rail, Hyundai Rotem, Stadler Rail, UGL

July

• The government announced that Alstom, Downer/Changchun, Stadler, and UGL/Mitsubishi Electric/CSR had been shortlisted to tender

November

• $1.1 b cost blowout reached due to modifications required for the design of the train

July

• The Rail Tram and Bus Union raises safety concerns after NSW Trains proposed its vision of driver-only trains replacing the ageing InterCity fleet

August

• Hyundai Rotem/UGL/Mitsubishi Electric consortium was announced as the successful bidder. The companies formed a joint venture called ‘RailConnect‘ to manage the project

September

• Tender documents for the new fleet for NSW TrainsLink show one of the requirements for each train is that it “must support driver-only operation”

October

• Tender documents show that the new intercity fleet is too wide for the tunnels in the Blue Mountains

August

• Government ignores safety concerns about the New Intercity Fleet and pushes ahead with plans not to have guards on the train

October

• Martin Stewart, Blind Australian of the year, travels to Sydney to tell Transport Minister Andrew Constance his story about driver-only trains and call for safety changes to be made to the NIF. In 2002, Martin, blind from birth, sustained horrific injuries when he was dragged 200m by a guard-less train in Melbourne. Martin fell through the gap between the carriages on the train, and the driver was unable to hear his cries for help
• Transport Minister Andrew Constance said he would guarantee that each new train would have someone in a guard and customer service role accompanying the driver. The Minister proceeds to make a series of contract variations to the design of the new train enabling the Guard to continue their role

February

• The NSW government buys an extra 42 carriages for the New InterCity Fleet to help cope with a surge in demand on the South Coast line from Sydney to Wollongong and Kiama

March

• The NSW Liberal Government wins the state election, and Andrew Constance backtracks on his commitment and orders that the train not be altered to allow Guards to perform their duties

October

• Following the intervention of the Fair Work Commission following a dispute about consultation, a delegation of RTBU Delegates travel to South Korea to inspect the facility where the train is being built. Following this trip, a list of 110 safety concerns are registered

November

• NSW Trains unveils the  changes it intends to make to jobs in order to operate the NIF by increasing the duties of Train Drivers via a new classification in the Enterprise Agreement, paying a wage increase to drivers and reducing the wages and duties of guards. This proposal was eventually defeated by the RTBU in the FWC and the Federal Court

December

• Hyundai Rotem ships its first NIF trains to New South Wales and testing commences
• The Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) claims the Korean built trains are a “danger on wheels” that demonstrate the Government can’t manage transport projects

Febuary

• The RTBU seeks the assistance of Safe Work NSW after Health and Safety Representatives issued a series of improvement notices regarding the NIF. These requests for assistance is rejected
• NSW railway staff say they will refuse to work on the state’s new fleet of intercity trains from South Korea amid union claims that a “design fault” in the trains increases safety risks
• A survey of members reveals that 90% of rail workers will refuse to crew the train on safety grounds.
  “Train guards are unable to properly monitor passengers in the vital moments before the train leaves the platform. It needs to be changed, or we risk serious injuries – or worse” – NSW Secretary, Alex Claassens

March

• As the COVID-19 pandemic takes hold, the RTBU writes to Premier Berejiklian warning the Government of an emerging crisis on our railways. In this correspondence the Union recommends the roll out of the New Intercity Fleet is paused, in consideration of the significant safety concerns held by members and the pandemic. The NSW Government fails to meet with the Union to discuss these concerns

July

• Rail workers raise safety concerns on the New Intercity Fleet of trains after it was revealed emergency alert buttons on the fleet wouldn’t patch passengers through to the driver or guard on the train, but rather a remote call centre at the Rail Operations Centre in Sydney
• The RTBU takes NSW Trains to the Fair Work Commission attempting to stop the unilateral introduction of new classifications. The Fair Work Commission rules in favour of NSW Trains. The RTBU decides to appeal this decision

September

• The RTBU has another dispute scheduled for hearing in relation to the Operation Instruction Manuals for the New Intercity Fleet. The hearing is cancelled after NSW Trains agrees that RTBU representatives will have access to the train and an in-principle agreement that the RTBU and NSW Trains would have regular report backs scheduled at the Fair Work Commission

October

• The RTBU launches proceedings against the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator who provided accreditation for the train to be operated in customer service without necessary consultation with the Union or railway workers

November

• An independent review, conducted by RMAus Pty Ltd, found the NIF operating model failed to meet the Safe “So Far As Is Reasonably Practical” standards
• Mark Buttigieg, Member of the Legislative Council, issues a Standing Order 52 in the NSW Parliament compelling the Government to release a range of documents in relation to the contracts, testing, and trialling of the train and copies of the Non-Disclosure Agreements that anyone who had access to the train was forced to sign. The Standing Order 52 passes with 24 votes for and 17 against
• Martin Stewart records a message to Transport Minister, Andrew Constance, reminding him of his promise to keep Guards on trains
• The RTBU publicly urges commuters to make alternative arrangements if they use intend to catch a train on Friday 27 November or Sunday 29 November as the new train was to be tested during peak hour on the Sydney Rail Network and rail workers cannot guarantee the safety of the community if this unsafe operating model is tested. At 5:30pm the RTBU issued a safety ban on the New Intercity Fleet, advising rail workers not to crew it and the community that there would be disruption as a result of this ban
• After being continually ignored, by the NSW Government and Transport for NSW, a 24-hour safety stoppage is called commencing midnight, 27 November 2020
• The RTBU called off the stoppage in the early hours of the morning following agreement with Transport for NSW on cancellation of ‘Mission Readiness’ testing on the network and a commitment to engage in a series of ongoing discussions on safety issues. “This train cannot be safely tested on our network and NSW Trains employees will not put their safety and the safety of the community at risk.“It’s really disappointing that the Government have decided to put this lethal weapon out there on the network so we’re encouraging all of our intercity train commuters to reconsider their travel plans today.”- RTBU NSW Secretary, Alex Claassens

March

• The full bench of FWC rules the Government needs the unions’ agreement if it wanted to change the roles of Train Crew under the rail enterprise agreement
• Sydney and NSW Trains put a 6-month roll over deal for a new enterprise agreement with a 0.3% pay rise to its workforce. This was voted down by 90% of covered employees

April

• The NSW Transport Minister claims the state’s new intercity train fleet will be operational within weeks
• NIF train makes first test journey from Sydney to Katoomba
• RTBU calls on NSW Premier to halt testing of $2b intercity train fleet after a further safety report by RMAus Pty Ltd flags safety concerns
• NSW Trains again attempts to introduce the NIF without the required safety changes by bribing Drivers with a 4% wage increase and offering Drivers and Guards a $2500 cash bonus. This offer was rejected as safety was not for sale
  

May

• NSW Trains, Transport for NSW and the NSW Government attempt to sue their own workforce in the Federal Court in an attempt to force them to crew the unsafe NIF
• NSW Trains sought 35 declarations from the Federal Court in an attempt to implement the same proposals that had been rejected by the FWC. This results in a 4-day hearing in July 2021

June

• Management begins bargaining for a new enterprise agreement. The RTBU files for a protected action ballot soon after bargaining commences to start taking industrial action to ensure that the two rail agencies bargain together. This was fiercely opposed by the NSW Government spending over $500,000 on external lawyers to prevent the union from balloting its members in a lengthy and drawn out hearing
• Between June 2021 and February 2022, the Government “surface” bargained with the Combined Rail Unions, meaning that they listened and said NO to everything the union asked for rather than genuinely engaging with the claims

August

• The Federal Court declined to make any of the declarations sought by NSW Trains and dismissed their case. The NSW Government was therefore unable to implement the workplace changes required to introduce the NIF without the agreement of the RTBU. In its judgement, the Court importantly found:

Based upon the evidence of Mr Clemens and Mr Dornan, it is nevertheless found as a fact that the reliance placed by the Mariyung Fleet upon CCTV technology has the potential to expose weaknesses in that Fleet’s methods of operation. Those potential weaknesses are only further potentially compounded by the lack of reliance intended to be placed upon the former functions performed by guards

September

• RTBU members commenced industrial action after winning the right to do so in FWC in late August. The union continued to take industrial action on and off for the next 14 months.

November

• Transport for NSW blames COVID and travel bans for the delay in delivering the NIF, marking an 18 month delay since the promised delivery date of trains

February

• The NSW Government attempts to terminate the RTBU’s right to take industrial action in the Fair Work Commission. Ultimately, they were unsuccessful after legal manoeuvring by the union, and the industrial action continued
• On 21 February, the NSW Government shuts down the entire network down without notice, locking out railway workers from their work. Initially the union was blamed for a “strike”. Scott Morrison, Dominic Perrottet and David Elliott were amongst the high profile politicians who label the move a “strike by the RTBU”. It quickly became clear that everyone was at work- they just weren’t being allowed to work
• On 22 February, the rail network re-opened, despite no changes to the protected industrial action that allegedly caused it to shut down the day prior

March

• After further industrial action continues, a ceasefire is agreed to allow a 6-week period of intensive negotiations to take place, and a number of claims were acceded to
• In this period, both the unions ‘One Agreement’ claim, and the broader concept of NIF alterations (relocating the bell and door controls in Cabs, removing screens from drivers’ vision, allowing the crew door to stay open when train is in motion) was agreed to by Transport for NSW
• NSW Trains, Transport for NSW, and the Union begin working on the details of how the NIF could be altered to resolve the safety issues raised by the Union

April

• Transport for NSW agreed to have One Agreement for both Sydney and NSW Trains

May

• May 6 – many of the claims made by the Unions were resolved with some outstanding issues yet to be settled
• May 12 – The New South Wales government threatens to terminate its industrial agreement with the state’s powerful rail union after long-running negotiations over a new enterprise agreement broke down on Thursday.
• Second Backflip – On 12 May 2022, Damien Tudehope (Minister for Employee Relations) stated that there would be no changes made to the NIF, and that the One Agreement claim was not agreed to. This was a major backflip by the NSW Government and a set back in the progress towards reaching an agreement
• May 16 – RTBU meets with Dominic Perrottet (Premier) about the backflip and he promises to investigate
• David Elliott promised to make the changes to the NIF again, but on the proviso that unions give up the requirement in clause 12 of the Agreement for in-principal union support agreed before a vote was taken  (described by him as a veto right)
• Union agrees to remove clause 12 veto right in order to secure changes to NIF

June

• Third Backflip – 24 June Damien Tudehope states that despite the promises of the Transport Minister, the NSW Government still rejects safety alterations to the NIF and the claim for One Agreement
• Transport Minister David Elliott announced that the government had offered to make changes to the troubled intercity fleet at a cost of $264 million
• Fourth Backflip – 30 June, the RTBU meets with Transport for NSW to sign the deed to settle the NIF dispute. The Transport Secretary refuses to sign the deed until full enterprise agreement is signed off on. However, the RTBU publicly signed the deed ready for the Transport Secretary to sign whenever he chooses
• The Government’s position was that it will only make the changes to the NIF if the unions sign off on a pay rise in line with their wages policy

July

• 4 July – the Government (with the Rail Agencies) filed a case in FWC to terminate bargaining or to suspend protected industrial action. Initially it sought an interim decision (akin to an injunction) to stop the unions industrial action
• 5 July – FWC ruled against the Government on its interim decision application allowing the RTBU to continue industrial action
• 7 and 8 July – FWC heard the Government’s case to terminate bargaining and shut down the Union’s right to take protected industrial action
• 9 July – FWC ruled against the Government again, citing a lack of evidence for the Government’s claims of economic and health risks. FWC commended the RTBUs commitment to safety on the railways
• 10 July – the Combined Rail Unions reaffirmed a wage claim of 3.5% it had pressed since June 2021, albeit with a supplement amount of up to 4% in the event that inflation continues to increase in an attempt to prevent substantial real wage cuts
• 18 July – the CRU’s leadership met with Ministers Tudehope and Ward, the Agency Chief Executives, and TfNSW to discuss progress and the unions wage claim. They formally rejected the unions wage claim. They stated that the unions claim was akin to a 16% increase. However, that number was debunked immediately in the room as it contained false assumptions. This was acknowledged at the time, but the Government disingenuously still ran with this line in the media
• The NIF safety alterations remain outstanding, and the Government refused to sign a deed to make the changes to the train
• 28 July – at midnight, RTBU members across the entire rail network walked off the job due to mounting frustration at Government backflips and refusal to bargain on pay and conditions

August

• 1 August- Given continued inaction by the Government, the RTBU released an industrial action calendar for the month containing multiple strikes and various other pieces of protected industrial action across all divisions of the union
• On 4 August – at around 10pm, Management sent the RBTU a list of 18 previously agreed items that it was backflipping on
• On 10 August – members in Strike Area 1 (those who work along the Illawarra Line) held a 6 hour stoppage and a stop work meeting at Hurstville Entertainment Centre to discuss the progress of bargaining
• On 17 August – members in Strike Area 2 held a 6 hour stoppage and a stop work meeting at Lidcombe Bowling Club to discuss bargaining. On the same day, Train Crew began industrial action to only take out trains that met minimum operating standards for maintenance centres – an action expected to have a low impact
• On 19 August the NSW Government provided the RTBU with a NIF deed with different terms to the one signed on 30 June 2022 by the union. The deed contained many terms unacceptable to the RTBU, and which would render the deed superfluous
• That afternoon, RTBU Delegates and Lawyers work to make all any necessary amendments to the deed, of which there are many. At 5pm the RTBU returned the deed to the Government with its changes
• Over the weekend of 20-21 August – it is revealed that much of the train fleet was not meeting minimum maintenance centre standards. Therefore, much of the fleet goes out of service to be repaired or cleaned, causing significant disruption
• On 22 August – at 1.04pm, the RTBU received a response to the NIF deed which essentially reverted to the original deed put by the Government on 19 August 2022
• On 23 August – the RTBU met with the Minister for Regional Transport, Sam Farraway and the Transport Secretary to discuss the NIF deed. Productive discussions were had, and the Government undertook to provide a further deed. Later that day, members in Strike 4 Area 3 held a 6 hour stoppage and stop work meetings in Blacktown and Hornsby to discuss progress in bargaining
• On 24 August – RTBU Delegates met with Management to continue bargaining. Some progress is made on the backflips made on 4 August, however significant work is still required to get back to previously agreed positions.
• At 3.18pm on 24 August – the RTBU is sent a further draft deed with no mark ups of changes to consider. The RTBU spends hours after the conclusion of bargaining going over the deed
• On 26 August – the RTBU met with Minister Farraway and further discussed the deed. At this stage, the Government’s position was that the deed would be contingent on a “Yes” vote in the enterprise agreement. Over the following weekend, the Government wrote to the Union recasting its position now saying that the NIF deed would be contingent on a Yes vote and the union immediately ceasing its industrial action
• Between 29-31 August – the CRU and Transport for NSW held discussions to attempt to resolve the backflips that had occurred at the start of the month. These meetings went into the night each day and some progress was achieved
• On 31 August – Premier Dominic Perrottet held a press conference where he threatened to terminate the current enterprise agreement if the RTBU continued to take industrial action. At 11am, David Elliott met with the CRU and stated that he would terminate the agreement if a “No” vote was returned in a ballot

September

• On 1 September, the NSW Government ordered Transport to immediately terminate bargaining and put the draft Agreement to a vote. This occurred without notice to either the CRU or Transport officials. That night the CRU lodged for good faith bargaining orders with the Fair Work Commission
• 6 September – the Fair Work Commission was due to begin hearing the case. However, the Government turned up on the day requesting an adjournment saying that it was not ready to proceed. The CRU sought for the case to go ahead, however the Government offered the Commission undertakings that it would not apply to terminate the agreement or put the agreement to a vote until the case had been finalised
• 9 September – the Fair Work Commission began hearing the CRU’s case for good faith bargaining orders. The case did not finalise that day and continued on 14 September 2022. The case was then put off until 6 October 2022 due to the Deputy President of the Commission’s planned leave
• 11 September, the RTBU notified industrial action to commence on 21 September which involved turning off opal machines to provide NSW commuters with free train travel, indefinitely
• 16 September, the CRU engaged in conciliation before FWC with Transport to try and settle some of the issues still in dispute. This conciliation was ongoing with the final session to be held on 29 September
• 17 September, at 12.16am, the NSW Government filed an application in FWC for an order stopping RTBU members from turning off the opal machines on 21 September. That night the RTBU withdrew the action
• On 19 September, the RTBU filed in FWC for a new protected action ballot asking its members specifically if they would turn off the opal machines. On 20 September 2022, the Government indicated that it would not oppose the order being made for the ballot, but did argue that it needed 7 days to prepare for the action
• On 26 September, FWC sided with the RTBU ordering that it would only have to give 3 days’ notice for the industrial action of turning off the opal machines and a ballot order was made

October

• On 6 October, the RTBU continued the good faith bargaining case before FWC. That day, the Union’s barrister cross examined Sydney and NSW Trains’ witnesses at length to demonstrate that the Government had not been bargaining in good faith. Written submissions were then submitted to the Commission to support our case. We are now awaiting the decision of the Commission
• On 12 October, the protected action ballot result was released with RTBU members voting 97% in favour of taking the industrial action of turning off or otherwise deactivating the opal machines
• On 16 October, the RTBU notified Sydney Trains and NSW Trains that it would be deactivating the opal gates for the afternoon peak on weekdays from 20 October 2022 continuing indefinitely
• On 19 October, the NSW Government launched the most vicious legal attack on its workforce since the waterfront disputes of 1998. It began a legal case in the Federal Court to sue its own workforce for the action allegedly taken throughout August and September of leaving opal gates open and sought to stop members from deactivating the opal gates. Given that there was never an objection raised previously, this was a move of extreme bad faith
• The same day, the RTBU paused the opal action and asked the Federal Court to declare that the action was legal as soon as possible
• On 26 October, the Federal Court made a decision to not hear the case urgently, and instead decided to hear the case in February 2023. This was despite the RTBU and the NSW Government agreeing that the case should be heard urgently
• On 27 October, the CRU sent an offer to Sydney Trains and NSW Trains on what the wage increases should for the new agreement. The offer would have seen RTBU members wages increase by 8.8% (not including superannuation) over and 18-month agreement expiring on 1 May 2024. It also sought to increase the bonus payment previously offered by the Government which would have equated to 3.03% for the year from 1 May 2021 to 1 May 2022

November

• On 1 November, the RTBU released a new industrial action calendar for that month. Actions under that calendar began slow and then escalated from 14 November onwards. A different feature of this calendar was that all actions on it were subject to fares being charged for train services. In other words, if the Government gave free fares, the actions would not proceed
• On 17 November, Premier Dominic Perrottet called an urgent meeting with the RTBU in an effort to have the actions commencing from 21 November 2022 postponed. A major topic of this conversation was the safety changes required to the NIF. The RTBU again sought to have the deed altered and signed. The meeting did not result in any concessions and the action was set to proceed
• On 18 November, the Premier announced that all train services would have free fares for the week of 21 November to 25 November. After receiving confirmation by letter from TfNSW, the RTBU confirmed that the actions wouldn’t proceed for that period of time
• On 22 November, the CRU attended a further conciliation before the Fair Work Commission to continue negotiations around the RTBU’s outstanding claims
• After the lack of success at the Fair Work Commission, the RTBU notified that it would be taking a further 4-hour stoppage on 2 December in accordance with its industrial action calendar
• On 25 November, the Fair Work Commission called on a further conciliation in an effort to settle the dispute. That morning, Sydney Trains and NSW Trains continued to refuse to accede to the RTBU’s claims and the stalemate continued
• Around lunch time that day, the Premier sent the Transport Minister, David Elliott to attend the conciliation session. At that point in time, the bargain began to move forward again. TfNSW agreed to:
  1. Increase the new Higher Standards Cleaning Allowance for our Cleaners to $2.25 per hour;
  2. Insert the previously agreed “Risk Assessments” clause into the agreement;
  3. Undertake to the Commission to maintain roles that are vital to ensure safety at the platform train interface;
  4. Arbitrate on: i. the cleaning allowance for CSAs ii. rostering agreements not finalised within 3 months iii. wages above a guaranteed minimum
• As a result of the concessions made that day, the CRU and the Employers reached an in-principle agreement on the new EA

December

• Over the course of December, the CRU and Trains concluded drafting on all outstanding clauses

January

• In January, the Employers conducted roadshows to explain the new terms of the proposed agreement to employees
• On 30 January, after the voting period had concluded, the agreement was voted up with 80% of all employees voting, and 93.6% of those employees voting YES

February

• On 8 and 9 February, the matters subject to arbitration before the Fair Work Commission went to hearing before a Full Bench
• On 10 February, the Fair Work Commission approved the Sydney Trains and NSW Trainlink Enterprise Agreement 2022 which then began operation on 17 February 2023

March

• On 10 March 2023, the Fair Work Commission handed down a decision to award an additional 1% per year of the Agreement, bringing the total pay increases to: a. 3.53% from 1 May 2022; and b. 4.03% from 1 May 2023