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Dear team,

Thank you to those who joined us yesterday at our all-staff livestream, where we provided a summary of the proposed Enterprise Agreement (EA) 2022.  

If you were unable to attend this session, I encourage you to watch the recording.

Voting dates

A reminder that the vote is open from 10am Tuesday 24 January until 10am Monday 30 January 2023. We’ve engaged an independent voting agency called Vero Voting to manage the voting process. More information on how to vote will be sent to your work email address from Vero Voting over the coming weeks – please regularly check your inbox.

Instructions on how to access your work email address from any device can be found here.

One-stop-shop for everything EA

The Stayinformed website is your “one-stop-shop” for all the key information and latest updates about the EA package in the lead up to and during the vote.

The EA, a guidebook, FAQs and other resources to explain what's in the EA for you are available on the site and can be accessed from any device, without logging in.

Printed copies of the EA, guidebook, booklet and posters will arrive in workplaces over the coming week.

Detailed information sessions

Detailed EA information sessions will be held from next Monday. These are in-depth sessions that will go through the EA line by line for those who are interested in getting a thorough overview of what's in the EA. Register here to attend.

Questions?

The FAQ document is being regularly updated as more questions come in from our people, so please keep checking this document.

If you have further questions about details of the EA or the vote period, please talk to your manager or email NSWTLEA@transport.nsw.gov.au.

Thank you for taking the time learn more about what’s in the EA for you and for preparing to vote.

Regards

Pete and Dale

Dear team,

We’re pleased to announce that we are finally bringing the Enterprise Agreement to you for a vote.

It has been a journey to get here, but we believe that this offer has a lot in it for our people including:

• a financial boost for all employees
• certainty for your future and your employment conditions
• benefits for a better work life balance.

The proposed 2022 Enterprise Agreement package includes our agreement to make modifications to the Mariyung fleet.

Dates for vote

The vote will be open from 10am Tuesday 24 January until 10am on Monday 30 January 2023.

All employees who are employed under the NSW Trains Enterprise Agreement 2018 will have their say and vote. We’ve engaged an independent voting agency called Vero Voting to manage the voting process.

The vote will be held electronically via phone, SMS and online. There are no paper based votes. You will receive more information on how to vote in the coming weeks. This information will be sent to you via your work email address – please regularly check your inbox.

Get the facts

Making an informed decision before you vote means knowing what’s in the Enterprise Agreement for you.

The proposed 2022 Enterprise Agreement, a guidebook and resources to explain the Enterprise Agreement are available for you to read on the Stayinformed website. Copies will also be distributed to stations and depots along with other resources to help you get the facts.

Information sessions

On Monday 9 January we’ll hold an all-staff live stream where you will hear more details of the vote process and what is on offer in the Enterprise Agreement for you. The livestream will be recorded and available to access after the session for those who cannot attend.

You’ll also have the opportunity to attend detailed information sessions throughout January to find out more about the Enterprise Agreement and to ask your questions. These will be offered both in person and virtually. Sessions start from Thursday 5 January and details about the village hall schedule are available on StayInformed. This will be updated as new events and dates are added.

Questions?

Stayinformed is your “one-stop-shop” for all the key information and latest updates about the EA package in the lead up to and during the vote.

If you have further questions about details of the EA or vote period, please talk to your manager or email NSWTLEA@transport.nsw.gov.au.

We thank you for your ongoing patience and resilience through the bargaining process and your commitment to our customers.

The EA will mean something different and personal to each of you. Take the time to get the facts and make up your own mind.

Take care,
Dale

We're really pleased to advise that yesterday evening at the Fair Work Commission, we reached an in-principle agreement with the Combined Rail Unions (CRU) for the terms of a new Enterprise Agreement. We are also continuing to talk to our Independent Bargaining Representatives (IBRs) about this and on a consent arbitration on any pay rises above the minimum increases.

Importantly, as part of this in-principle agreement, each of the rail unions have agreed to cease all industrial action, effective today.

This is a really positive step forward, providing us with a clear pathway to bringing our offer to you for a vote on the new Enterprise Agreement.

The in-principle agreement includes:

• All matters agreed to date, including all the enhanced terms and conditions that we have communicated previously
• Minimum wage increases of:
  • 2.53% from 1 May 2022;
  • 3.03% from 1 May 2023;
  • and a one-off payment of $4,500
• A letter of commitment regarding staffing for the Platform Train Interface and Driver Only Operations for the New Intercity train fleet for a duration of 4 years
• A Higher Standards Cleaning Allowance of $2.25 for cleaners in section 3 of the Sydney Trains Enterprise Agreement
• New provisions regarding rostering and risk assessment processes
• Agreed changes to the Facilitation Clause of the new Enterprise Agreement
• For NSW Trains, the legal Deed to make modifications to the Mariyung fleet has also been signed

As part of the in-principle agreement, we have also agreed to arbitrate on the following items following a vote of employees on the Enterprise Agreement:

• A possible additional wage increase, to be determined by the Fair Work Commission
• The provision of a cleaning allowance to Customer Service Attendants, to be determined by the Fair Work Commission.

We will be meeting with the CRU again next week to finalise the details of the agreed package and consider the possible timing for a vote of our staff on the new Enterprise Agreement.

While details will continue to be finalised, and some of the agreement terms listed above are currently in general terms, the agreement in-principle is moving us the right direction towards finalising a new Enterprise Agreement for our people.

Finally, we would like to acknowledge and thank you all for your resilience and ongoing support for each other and our customers over a very challenging period.

We’ll be in touch with more information soon.

Take care

Pete & Dale

I’m writing to provide an update on how we’re progressing with our new Enterprise Agreement, following proceedings in the Fair Work Commission (FWC) on Tuesday.

We’ve formally asked the Fair Work Commission for help to resolve the dispute

As you know, we’ve been engaging in conciliation in the FWC for some time. Offers between Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink and the Combined Rail Unions (CRU) have also been exchanged during this time.

During this conciliation process, the FWC encouraged us and the CRU to apply formally for their further assistance to attempt to resolve the issues and move towards finalisation of a new Enterprise Agreement.

About consent arbitration

The FWC process we’re currently engaging in may lead to consent arbitration, if all the parties agree.

Consent arbitration means that Sydney Trains, NSW TrainLink, the CRU and Independent Bargaining Representatives (IBRs) have to agree to specific matters that are to be included and decided by the Commission as part of this process.

Yesterday we put forward two potential approaches to arbitration for the CRU and IBRs to consider:

1. That we arbitrate on a limited number of matters that remain in contest, excluding wages; or
2. That we arbitrate on all of the conditions that have been negotiated to date, including wages.

Today the CRU responded, rejecting the above proposed approaches and re-stating their latest counter-offer.

Bargaining for a new Enterprise Agreement has taken much longer than we’d hoped. We’re engaging in this process with FWC because we’re committed to reaching a resolution as soon as we can.

There is a further conference planned at the FWC this Friday.

Further significant industrial action next week

We've received notices for additional protected industrial action from a number of unions, involving work stoppages on Friday 2 December 2022.

In addition, protected industrial action from the Rail, Tram and Bus Union has been notified for the period from Sunday 27 November through until Thursday 1 December, which is anticipated to have a significant impact across our network.

We’re working through options around how to respond to the industrial action in a way that minimises disruption, while keeping customers safe. Thank you to everyone involved in the planning and delivery of the amended service plans.

We'll continue to keep you updated about next steps as information comes to hand.

Take care

Dale

Following on from our message yesterday, about the NSW Government offering a fare free travel for a week for the RTBU to not proceed with the 'November Calendar' industrial action planned during this period, we want to provide further clarification about our regional rail services.

To confirm, people traveling on NSW TrainLink regional rail services who purchase a ticket 12.01am Monday 21 November 2022 until 11.59pm Friday 25 November 2022, will not be charged for their travel. This includes overnight XPT services that depart on Friday 25 November 2022, arriving the following day on Saturday 26 November 2022. This arrangement does not include our regional coach services. Customers will still be required to ‘purchase’ a rail ticket at zero cost for seat allocation and manifest details. This will be actioned on our Customer Reservation System.

Any customer who has already purchased a ticket on a services between the time period stated above will receive a full refund for their pre-purchased ticket/s, which will be organised by us.

If you have any questions, please speak to your people leader.

Take care

Pete & Dale

As you may have heard in the media yesterday the NSW Government has offered to provide fare free rail travel next week, for the RTBU to not proceed with the 'November Calendar' industrial action planned during this period.

The Rail, Tram and Bus Union has agreed to stop the planned industrial action next week and there are no other planned disruptions to metro and regional train services.

I wanted to let you know that travel will be free on Sydney Trains, NSW Trainlink and Sydney Metro services from 12:01am this Monday 21 November 2022 until 11:59pm on Friday 25 November 2022.

If you have any questions, please speak to your people leader.

Take care

Pete & Dale

You may have heard from media reporting this afternoon that the NSW Government has offered to provide fare free rail travel next week, to suspend the RTBU 'November Calendar' industrial action planned during this period.

Fare free travel will be available on Sydney Trains, NSW TrainLink and Sydney Metro services from 12:01am this Monday 21 November until 11:59pm on Friday 25 November.

Whilst we are still finalising the details, I wanted to ensure you are all aware of this initiative as we head into the weekend.

Thanks

Pete & Dale

Dear team

This week we put a further proposal to the Combined Rail Unions (CRU) on the new Enterprise Agreement, following a counter offer proposed by the CRU on 4 November 2022.

The proposal we put to the CRU reiterated the wide range of improved terms and conditions we have shared with you previously. It emphasised our desire to put the Enterprise Agreement to an employee vote as soon as possible, so that you can have your say.

Today we received notification that the CRU have rejected our proposal.

We are disappointed that the CRU have rejected this proposal, which offers certainty and benefits for our people. We understand the CRU are working on a counter offer, which we will take the time to consider once we are provided with the details.

Getting to a vote

We made an undertaking to the Fair Work Commission that we would not go to a vote before there is an outcome in the Unions’ good faith bargaining application to the Fair Work Commission. We had hoped to bring the vote to you earlier with the agreement of the CRU, unfortunately we have not been able to reach agreement to allow that to happen.

We expect to hear the outcome of the Unions’ good faith bargaining application in the next few weeks.

We will keep you updated as things progress and will provide information about next steps for the Enterprise Agreement process as we know more.

Take care

Pete & Dale

Dear team

We are writing to provide an update on our discussions with the Combined Rail Unions about the new Enterprise Agreement. Our priority is to finalise an offer that we can bring to you for consideration and a ballot as soon as possible.

To move us closer to a new Enterprise Agreement, we presented an updated offer to the Combined Rail Unions (CRU) this afternoon.

The formal offer is now on the table, including a wide range of improved terms and conditions based on your feedback and many hours of engagement with Union and independent bargaining representatives throughout the bargaining process. We believe this is a fair offer and will provide the certainty our people are looking for.

Highlights include:

• Annual wage increases of:
  • 3%, including super increases in the first year, backdated to 1 May 2022 (noting that the super increase has already been paid since 1 July 2022)
  • 3.5%, including super increases, in the second year, from 1 May 2023.
• A one-off payment of $3,185 (further super is payable on this amount)
• The combined financial benefit to staff of these wage increases equates to approximately 9% average increase to 30 April 2024.
• Significant new enhancements to conditions and allowances.

An option of a third year has also been put to the CRU (that is, if accepted, the Enterprise Agreement will then operate until 1 May 2025). The annual wage increase from 1 May 2024 would be at the applicable wages policy rate of 2.5% (inclusive of super increase) or wages policy in place at that time, if it has increased.

The backpay to 1 May 2022 and the one-off payment of $3,185 would be paid in the first full pay period following commencement of the new Agreement, with some flexibility available in the timing of these payments.

The wide range of improved terms and conditions includes those benefits which we communicated in June this year and we look forward to bringing you more details on this as we get closer to a vote.

The proposed Deed to make modifications to the Mariyung fleet awaits agreement from the Rail Tram and Bus Union. These modifications will only be made if the proposed EA is voted up by employees, and therefore none have been made to the fleet at this stage.

Next steps

The Unions are considering our proposal and we hope to receive their support. We have asked that they come back to us by Friday at 10am with their response. We are really keen to share the details of all the benefits in the new Enterprise Agreement and bring this offer to you for a vote, hopefully before the holiday period.

We will keep you updated as we receive any further information from the Combined Rail Unions.

A reminder to continue to be respectful to each other in your discussions about the Enterprise Agreement.

Take care

Pete, Dale & Matt

This week, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) continued to conciliate between NSW TrainLink, Sydney Trains, and the Combined Rail Unions on matters relating to the proposed Enterprise Agreement.

Commissioner Riordan, who oversaw this process is currently considering next steps. As always, we remain committed to reaching a resolution for our people and our customers.

The FWC hearing will resume on 6 October. We will keep you updated on the outcomes of this hearing and what’s next for the Enterprise Agreement process.