By Erica Haines
ADELAIDE — Members of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union have agreed to accept a package offered by the state government. The agreement will partially settle a dispute which began on January 28, when the government announced that the TransAdelaide bus service will be privatised on April 23.
Approximately 900 RTBU members attended a three hour stop-work meeting on February 21 to consider the package. Some members argued for the package to be rejected.
RTBU state secretary Daryl Dickson said, "The acceptance vote was a reluctant one. Although there are some issues that are still unresolved because of the government failing to move, the members decided it was in their best interests to accept what was put."
The package includes provisions allowing for no forced redundancies and the re-deployment of some staff within the public service at their existing wage for six months. Separation packages accepted before June 30 have been increased to 20 weeks pay plus three weeks pay per year of service. Those accepted after that date will only include the standard eight weeks pay plus three weeks pay per year of service and have to be accepted before December 31.
One hundred and thirteen trainees, given dismissal notices by the government but then re-employed after industrial action by RTBU members, have now been granted permanent status in the public service and are therefore entitled to keep the same conditions.
However, five other trainees have been left out in the cold. They were employed by TransAdelaide on February 7, after the privatisation announcement.
RTBU state secretary Daryl Dickson told Green Left Weekly, "The union is exploring all options to ensure these five trainees get equitable treatment. This is a direct misrepresentation of their employment contracts. They were employed on 12-month traineeships and have since been told they have no jobs after April 23."
The legal issue of whether TransAdelaide's certified agreement will also apply to those workers taken on by the new private bus companies will be decided in the Federal Court at a later date. However, the battle to transfer superannuation conditions to the new employers has been lost.
RTBU state secretary Daryl Dickson is resigning his position and will return to driving trains for National Railways. He will become the RTBU branch president. Dickson still has 34 months of his four-year term to serve but said the RTBU can no longer afford three union officials and an office administrator.
"This is a direct result of the bastardisation of the TransAdelaide bus services", Dickson told Green Left Weekly.
RTBU branch organiser Ray Hancox will take over as state secretary.