Public Holiday Accruals Above 8 Days

Bulletin 21 – 2015

To: All RTBU Sydney and NSW Trains Members,

The Combined Rail Unions (CRU) recently organised a meeting with Sydney Trains and NSW Trains to discuss a new proposal for reducing public holiday accruals across both organisations.

Sydney Trains and NSW Trains have failed to manage public holiday days accrued as per Clause 29.5 (b) in the Sydney Trains Enterprise Agreement 2014 and Clause 28.5 (b) of the NSW Trains Enterprise Agreement 2014.

Sydney Trains and NSW Trains put forward the following proposal to manage the excess days above the 8 day limit by:

1. All employees with accrued days in lieu of public holidays exceeding 8 days would be advised of their excess accrual and advised of the intention to “cash out” these excess accrued days.

2. Employees would be advised that payment will be made in June 2015, unless they request that it be paid in July 2015 which will be the next financial year.

3. Employees who do not respond by 30^th May 2015 selecting the “July” option will be “paid out” excess accrued days in June 2015.

4. From 1^st July 2015 employees will not be permitted to accrue more than 8 days and will automatically be paid the extra day when required to work on a public holiday if they have accrued 8 days.

The Combined Unions have disagreed with the proposal put forward by Sydney Trains and NSW Trains for the following reasons:

• Point 4 contravenes employee entitlements contained in Clause 28 which provide employees with the choice to either have the time paid out or taken at another time or as part of their holidays;
• Members also have the right to clear their accrued public holidays with their annual leave.
• The problem of excess leave arises because of understaffing across both organisations. If Sydney Trains and NSW Trains wished to address this issue then they would employ more staff so there are enough employees to complete all the work while also allowing members to have time off.
• This has been an ongoing problem for all staff for a number of years and it is the employers responsibility to provide an appropriate work-life-balance for all members and this proposal does not address any of these issues.

The CRU has directed Sydney Trains and NSW Trains to provide a revised position which will properly manage leave entitlements and allow all members to have an appropriate work-life-balance.

If members have requested to clear their accrued leave and it has been declined then please advise your manager in writing that you wish to clear your leave and not have it “cashed out”. If you are then put under any pressure to cash out your leave by a manager you should advise your union organiser immediately.