TSA Agreement for Public Holidays Falling on Saturday Stays

The Tram and Bus Division has finally had a result from the Federal Court about its Easter Saturday dispute. This dispute came about because Transit Systems West Services Pty Ltd refused to honour the agreement the RTBU and the TSA came to around 7 years ago about public holidays that fall on a Saturday.

It was agreed at that time that when someone is rostered off on a Saturday where a holiday falls, if they had worked 10 Saturday shifts in the previous 12 months, they would be paid 7hrs 36mins even if they were not rostered on. Given TSA bus drivers work a 6 day roster from Monday to Saturday, it was a pretty safe bet to say most people would qualify.

The appeal by Transit Systems has been dismissed and the Court has recognised that our members deserve to be paid as they have been since 2013 for public holidays that fall on a Saturday.

The court was particularly scathing in its decision, saying near the end: “Even if the applicant had a point, which it does not…”.

Hopefully this is an end to the matter and we can finally have our ex-TSA members in Region 6 paid as they should have been. We won’t know for 30 days, which is the time TSA has to lodge an appeal. Maybe common sense will finally win out and they’ll stop with the pointless legal manoeuvres, but time will tell.