Effectively immediately the CODE RED concerning activities on the Sydney Metro rail project is lifted.
Since Code Red instructions were issued on11.7.24, the FBEU have met with the Minister for Transport and theOffice of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR) to discuss outstanding safety concerns with emergency management arrangements for the Metro rail network. The FBEU have worked with FRNSW on four robust cross-agency exercises to be conducted on Metro lines next week. The Code Red has been lifted to allow these exercises to be undertaken. However, should we remain concerned about the rail operator’s ability to facilitate appropriate arrangements further action will be taken.
AWARD ARBITRATION – FURTHER INFORMATION
As we advised in sitrep last week, all three of our Awards (Permanent, Retained and D&D) are proceeding to arbitration before the Industrial Relations Commission/Court (IRC). Arbitration is a process where basically what ultimately goes into our Awards, including our pay increase, is decided by the IRC after hearing evidence from both sides.
A directions hearing will be heard before the new President, Justice I Taylor on Wednesday next week which will set the timetable for the arbitration however given the sheer amount, and complexity of our claims, we suspect it will be a lengthy process taking some months to ensure we build and put forward the best case possible, and for a decision to be handed down.
As advised previously, we will be coming to members through this process to assist with providing information and, for some of you, witness evidence, in support of our case. While we will be using expert witness in areas like economics and education, is absolutely necessary that the decision makers in this case hear from you, the people actually doing the work and those most affected by any decision.
Further, I want to stress to you all that until the day the decision is handed down, if agreement is reached with FRNSW and the Government, we can still seek for the Awards to be made by consent. This means it is absolutely vital that we keep the pressure on and keep our Industrial Campaign and Code Reds going. I will keep you updated on campaign activities in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, there have been a bunch of member queries about the process. In order to assist in answering these questions, attached here is a Q&A document with further information on the process.
