Central Coast commuters will be pleased to hear that an in-principle agreement has been reached between rail workers and the NSW Government on a new enterprise agreement for Sydney and NSW Trains workers.
The breakthrough follows months of stalled negotiations which saw major disruptions across the rail network.
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) NSW is now working through a process to ensure the draft agreement can go to members as soon as possible for review before being voted upon.
If supported, it will then go to the Fair Work Commission for final approval.
RBTU Secretary Toby Warnes said while it had been a long and arduous battle to get to this point, it was fantastic that discussions over the past few weeks had been fruitful.
“This is a very positive development that will no doubt come as welcome relief to commuters as well as rail workers,” Warnes said.
“We’ve reached a point where we have an agreement that includes crucial safety features as well as fair and reasonable wages and other conditions.
“Our focus will now be on explaining the current version of the enterprise agreement to members and determining whether they are comfortable with it.
“All our rail workers ever wanted was an agreement that provides commuters with the safe and reliable rail network they deserve, and workers with the fair wages and conditions they deserve.
“Our rail workers have been on the receiving end of some atrocious abuse throughout this process, but they’ve always held strong knowing that at the end of the day securing an agreement that ensure commuters get a safe railway and workers get fair wages and conditions is what is important.
“We’re now looking forward to seeing the NSW Government turn its focus to improving our transport system across the state.
“We’d like to thank the new Transport Minister for the role he’s clearly played in helping us finally reach this point.”
Meanwhile, an expert panel of three has been appointed to conduct a short review into the overhead wiring incident which caused disruption across the Sydney Trains network a couple of weeks ago and take a system-wide look at maintenance and reliability.
Transport and Infrastructure expert Kerry Schott, former chief executive of the NSW Independent Transport Safety and Reliability Regulator (ITSRR) Carolyn Walsh, and former Ausgrid CEO Trevor Armstrong will lead the independent review.
Sydney Trains has begun its own internal investigation and metallurgical analysis of the failed wire which caused the problem and will report findings to the investigators.
Minister for Transport John Graham said the three reviewers would help make sure the government was focused in exactly the right areas to drive the improvements to the train system that passengers expected.
“A short and sharp independent review into maintenance, punctuality and customer communications will assist in understanding how we can do better,” he said.
“The NSW Government is investing record amounts into maintenance and reliability, guided by the Rail Repair Plan and Train Repair Plan.
“We have driven down delays from temporary speed restrictions but we know there is much more to do.”
Terry Collins
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