Newsletter No. 25
AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2004
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NSW train drivers stopped compulsory overtime When Sydney’s CityRail train drivers refused any further compulsory overtime last January, they threw a chronically under-staffed and increasingly run-down public transport system into chaos. Their union leaders tried to get the striking drivers to return to work, while the NSW Carr Labor government tried to scapegoat them, to deflect attention from its own miserable nine-year record of downgrading public sector health, housing, education and transport services. As the crisis grew, maintenance and other staff also walked off. The drivers showed they were determined to fight for their rights and win, though it meant dealing with their own officials as well as their employer. The rail system crisis stems from the NSW Labor Government’s dismantling of State Rail, which it split into four agencies in 1996 to cut costs and prepare for privatisation. One agency owned the passenger trains, one owned the tracks, one the freight trains and the fourth maintained the tracks. As a result, CityRail could no longer recruit train drivers from the ranks of freight train drivers, as they had for many years. Rail, Tramway and Bus Union (RT&BU) secretary, Nick Lewocki said freight operators — now in private hands — didn’t want to see their drivers simply walk away to a future in CityRail (‘How City-Rail became Labor’s multi-billion dollar fiasco’, Sydney Morning Herald 14-15.2.04). Because it aimed to make the railways more profitable, a culture of cost cutting pervaded every business unit in the system. One way to save costs was to cut recruitment, resulting in an over reliance on drivers doing overtime to keep the trains running. RT&BU official, Allan Barden, pointed to over-reliance on over-time as a ‘decades-old cultural problem in the rail system’, that finally collapsed ‘because the government had failed to take on enough drivers since the Olympics’ (‘Drivers rejected same money for more work’ SMH 14-15.2.04) Train drivers bore the brunt of the government’s cost cutting by having their work conditions eroded. This included: * Days off regularly cancelled * Being bullied into dangerous levels of overtime * Significant fatigue and unsafe work practices * Lack of rest and toilet facilities * Drivers forced to work for 100 days without a day off * Many drivers going without meal breaks when the system is overstrained * Delays in the system causing them to work longer hours A fatal rail accident justified the renamed RailCorp also starting punitive rounds of medical testing of drivers, targeting the ‘oldest and fattest’. Given the baby boomer profile of the train driver population, due to government’s low recruitment rates and the wear and tear on drivers forced to work long hours and denied meal breaks and decent rest and toilet facilities, it was obvious many would be heart attacks waiting to happen. At least three of the first twenty tested failed the medical. Up to fifteen per cent of older drivers’ jobs are under threat. Life expectancy for train drivers after retirement is less than half the national average, Adelaide University research has found. Long years of excessive work loads takes its toll on drivers, increasing the risk of circulatory problems, diabetes, obesity, drug and alcohol abuse, digestive problems, mental illness and other ailments. A lack of time often forces drivers to eat takeaway foods high in sugar and fat, adding to their lack of wellbeing. Drivers’ poor state of health is a direct consequence of poor working conditions over a long time. With the ‘crackdown’, drivers began to question themselves over ‘quality of life’ issues. Many did not get to spend time with their families on weekends or during the week, so they took a stand and began to turn down overtime. As a result, there were not enough drivers to run the system, as it relied on drivers working excessive amounts of overtime to keep it running. The NSW Government initially responded to the drivers’ anger and frustration by threatening legal action under the draconian Federal industrial laws. It only made matters worse. It could not force drivers to do more overtime What industrial tribunal would force drivers to work six days a week at a time when safety was paramount? As John Brew, last Commissioner of Railways before its break-up said ‘Taking staff to court is never going to win. There needs to be confidence within the organisation that it’s a good place to work’ (‘How CityRail’ SMH 14-15.2.04) The government and union did a deal to pay drivers an extra $400 a month and other sweeteners so long as they returned to working overtime. RT&BU President Bob Hayden later admitted drivers felt this only made them “look as if they had been holding the system to ransom, rather than having genuine concerns.” (‘No light in the tunnel as drivers shun offer’ SMH 15.2.04). Throughout the dispute union leaders struggled to deal with the frustration and militancy of their members. The drivers, by their actions have served notice on both their union & employer to address the need for a balance between work and free time. The RT&BU is affiliated to both the Australian Labor Party and the NSW Trades Labor Council. Its leaders belong to the ALP Right, which dominates both organisations. They’re well placed to press for enlightened labour laws and work conditions for their members. They cannot just ‘manage’ members’ expectations, so it is easier for their party in government, given its consistent record of acting against workers, not least where it is their direct employer, in the public sector. The train drivers’ dispute also highlights government’s need to protect and expand public services. Government is directly responsible for managing public property, on behalf of the people. The labour movement must engage with the broadest public, to defend and advocate a strong public sector, and an equitable system of revenue raising to fund it. It must resist its ransacking by the vested interests behind ‘liberal’ economic ideologies, or to mollify the market. JB ‘04 |