TfNSW Mandatory vaccination policy update – 25 Feb 2022
A reminder this story only applies to members in Region 9 bus depots.
As the union has long maintained, there are other ways of making sure workers are safe than mandatory vaccination.
As you would know, Transdev has now committed to looking at these other measures (masks all the time, regular testing, physical distancing etc) and allow workers who have not been vaccinated to return to work. They will only return to work (once the company takes over) with extra safety measures in place. The union is not going to advocate anything that puts workers at risk.
We met in the IRC last week with TfNSW about payments and reimbursement of entitlements for people that have been forced to stay at home. Because the RTBU was focused on making sure drivers did not lose their jobs, that was the finish line we put forward to resolve the dispute. That has been achieved, but while the dispute was running workers affected should have been paid. We had another report back to the IRC Tuesday just past, but TfNSW became caught up in the whole ‘Lie to the Public for Political Gain’ saga with the trains. TfNSW asked for and received, an extension to the next IRC report back which is now scheduled for 9am Thursday 3rd of March.
This means they haven’t made a decision on backpay yet covering the period the dispute was live. As soon as we have more news, a dedicated bulletin will go out to members.
A dedicated bulletin will go out next week with an update after the IRC appearance.