Region 7 Bargaining Update
Negotiations in Region 7 have been ongoing and have been through a long and complex road. Things have been moving beyond expectations when it comes to updates here.
Transport for NSW has become more deeply involved in negotiations, including engaging the former Fair Work Commission (FWC) Deputy President Sams as a mediator in discussions between the RTBU and Busways. Following the directive from the Labor Government to eliminate two-tiered workplaces, the focal point shifted to the issue of who bears the cost of leveling up newer employees.
Regrettably, it seems TfNSW has now withdrawn from actively seeking a solution, asserting contractual constraints that prevent them from making any payments to employees or the company. They have so far refused to detail what those constraints are. As of now, the Union has not been presented with substantiated evidence or legal advice supporting this position. Basically, they’ve said ‘we can’t do anything’ but refused to tell us why.
As a final attempt at a political fix, we have a meeting between RTBU officials and the Premier and Transport Minister scheduled for the 27th of Feb. The main issue with the current negotiation is that everyone cannot take industrial action together, and so any action we may take will be undermined by the new drivers who have no choice but to work as normal.
If we bargain for a new EA for just the ex-STA employees, the new drivers get left behind and we still end up locked into 2 separate Agreements. The two-roster system is ultimately up to the company to decide if they’re going to bring it in and we can’t fight that until we’re all bargaining together.
We understand that the highly political nature of this negotiation is not something people are happy with. We also understand that members are getting sick of not seeing movement. Please understand, this is exactly what happened in Region 6- it took years for the Unions to get a result there. We are ultimately trying to fix something that we are not directly involved in and so don’t have the power to easily change. We’re not the employer or TfNSW and we’re not a party to the service contract.
Ultimately, our job is to make sure that several things happen. First and most importantly, that all workers are protected. Secondly, that no-one goes backwards, and thirdly that we close the gap between the workgroups as much as we possibly can. We know it’s frustrating, but this means that this process will run as long as it needs to so we can deliver on those responsibilities and if Labor won’t deliver a solution as promised then we’ll be calling them out as well.