Discussions ongoing: Agreement still not in sight
Our thoughts are with all the passengers and workers impacted by the terrible incident at Richmond Station this morning. We are working with all members involved to ensure they have all the support they need.
Incidents that occur within our rail family can impact more than just those directly involved. If you’d like to speak with one of the RTBU team, please contact the RTBU Head Office or speak with your local delegate.
Negotiation update
Your RTBU negotiating team, the combined rail unions team and UnionsNSW met with Sydney and NSW Trains management again today.
Unfortunately, we still have not reached an agreement. Management came to the meeting with an offer, but it was not up to scratch. There are still a range of conditions that we haven’t got agreement on, including rostering concerns, job security, keeping the value of your Opal card when services are privatised and a fair and timely discipline process.
The meeting was delayed so everyone could prioritise providing assistance to those involved in the Richmond incident, and as a result, went much later than expected. We are expecting to meet again over the coming days.
We will push ahead with the industrial action as planned – the indefinite overtime ban starting on Thursday 25th Jan, and the 24-hour stoppage planned for Monday 29th January.
We can predict what the Transport Minister will say about this: he’ll try to make out that we’re being greedy unionists, but we know that couldn’t be further from the truth. They could have offered a fair deal and they chose not to.
We’ve made it clear that all we want is a fair agreement. Today’s offer didn’t provide that, so we’ve asked them to go back to the drawing board.
Together, we will get a fair deal.