Newcastle EA Update

An overtime dispute through the Fair Work Commission has put our EA negotiations on hold in the last week. 

This all started when a large number of members turned down the Sunday shift for April 3rd, due to many members wanting to attend the farewell BBQ for Robin O’Donoghue or other personal commitments.

Due to the sheer amount of shifts that were turned down – it became clear to Keolis Downer that they couldn’t operate the network without enough of our members on deck. Unfortunately, Keolis Downer responded by ordering a directive for workers to attend their shifts on Sunday. 

We challenged this directive – arguing that the Sunday shift should be voluntary overtime only. Through a conciliation process with the Fair Work Commission, it was clear that to avoid the risk of unprotected action (where the Commission could fine individuals up to $13,360) we needed to find a way through. When we take action – we go hard – and we do it in a way that’s bulletproof. And this was not. Our members decided to pull together and volunteer for the shift, so that now, enough shifts have been accepted for the buses to run this Sunday. 

This outcome is important because it puts us in the strongest position to take up a protected fight in our battle for a better EA. If the company had been able to successfully argue that the union was organising illegal industrial action in this case, any chance of having an application for protected action (tied to our EA) approved by the FWC would have gone out the window. Members will get the opportunity to vote on different forms of Protected Industrial Action in coming weeks.

We’ve requested Keolis Downer meet us back at the bargaining table next week, so stay tuned.