Visit the 
Visit the Update 4, Wednesday July 19
Standing Together to Secure Our Conditions
At the meeting held on July 18th, the management of Sydney and NSW Trains responded to the members’ claims and put forward their own claims for a new agreement.
Despite management platitudes, it was clear their scheme is to cut your conditions. They put forward cuts to your redundancy rights and cuts to your control over your conditions by removing your guaranteed vote on any changes under clause 12 (the facilitation clause) during the new agreement – all for a pay offer of ‘up to 2.5%’.
They also said that the pay offer is only ‘good’ if Agreement is reached between the parties by 30th September 2017.
This response demonstrates a lack of respect for the work, skills and productivity delivered by employees over the life of the 2014 Agreement.
Employment Security
Management’s proposed cuts include:
- Cutting the notice period for redundancies from the current twelve months to twelve weeks
- Reduced redundancy entitlements for employees engaged after 30th September
- Reducing overall entitlements to those contained within the Managing Excess Employees policy currently applicable in the public service
Domestic and Family Violence Leave Claim
The response to this claim was very disappointing and demonstrated a lack of leadership and commitment to this matter on the part of rail management. Our claim for a ‘best practice approach’ (developed by experts on the issue) was dismissed by management. Contrary to expert evidence, management don’t agree that additional paid leave is needed – this is a disgrace.
Contracting Out, Supplementary Labour and Outsourcing
Members across the rail network are concerned that contracting out and supplementary labour is being used to avoid the commitments management has made on the training, development and conditions of existing staff. Members are also concerned that this scheme is costing the taxpayers many millions of dollars which could be better spent elsewhere.
Your negotiations team have written to management and requested the full disclosure of all information concerning any proposed changes to the business, proposed technological change and its impact on jobs and classifications, and the full costs associated with contracting out over the past three years of the 2014 Agreement. We will keep you updated on their response.