Rail maintenance workers will implement rolling work bans on the state’s freight network following a breakdown in collective bargaining agreements earlier this month.
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The Rail Tram and Bus Union workers have placed indefinite work bans on overtime, responding to urgent call outs, night and afternoon shifts and any living away from home work.
It will affect Australian Rail Track Corporation’s entire network.
Union secretary Luba Grigorovitch said the corporation was making multi-million dollar profits while also attempting to cut workers’ rights.
“While the RTBU regrets any impact on farmers or third parties, ARTC must recognise and respect the workforce that keeps freight moving and profits so successful,” he said.
“ARTC is acting as middle-men, creaming millions out of the industry while screwing down regional wages.
“Offering effective wage cuts by refusing a fair and decent agreement for regional workers takes money out of the pockets of regional communities and the broader economy.”
The corporation’s network stretches across western Victoria and interstate into South Australia and NSW.
This includes lines from Portland, in the state’s south-west, to Ararat and from Ballarat to Geelong.
There are 80 freight train movements across Victoria every day.
The union said in a media release the corporation made $250 million in profits in the 2016-7 financial year.
A ballot of workers was taken by the Australian Electoral Commission with the vote returning an overwhelming result in support of industrial action.
A union spokesperson said the corporation was pushing for a two per cent wage increase, which is below CPI.
“It is effectively a wage cut,” he said.
“Entitlements are not on the table, they are not negotiable, because it is a workforce that has produced significant productivity for the company over the past decade.”
The spokesperson said a living away from home allowance was important to workers.
”Something like the living away from home allowance is enormous, they don’t get to see their family every night, because they have to go off overnight to work on rail to make sure it is not dangerous,” he said.