Rail & Maritime Transport Union Volume 2018 # 3 Published Regularly - ISSN 1178-7392 (Print & Online) 5 April 2018 have since been quarantined and two have WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY- 28 been cleaned. APRIL 2018 Immediate steps to reduce exposure to workers include the deferral of maintenance The RMTU’s theme for Workers Memorial of DSC’s. The electrical cabinets are to be Day is “Safe Shifts, Safe Workers”. sealed immediately, cabs are being Safe rosters/shift work arrangements are retested for asbestos and daily checks critical to reducing the risks to workers involving operations staff entering the health and safety from fatigue. Workers electrical cabinet are suspended. who are suffering from workplace fatigue are more likely to make mistakes which can RESULT OF CALL FOR lead to serious injury. There are also long NOMINATIONS – term health effects KIWIRAIL associated with chronic sleep restriction. INDUSTRIAL The Workers Memorial Day COUNCILS – 3 posters will be with Branches by the end of VACANCIES FILLED next week and the Union The Joint KiwiRail encourages Branches to Industrial Councils have plan events to governing terms of commemorate the day. As reference signed by the the day falls on a Saturday Union and KiwiRail Ltd. some branches have They are intended to be chosen to hold the the escalation centre for service/ceremony on an industrial issues which adjacent normal working arise during the course of day. the employment relationship on a day to KIWIRAIL DSC- day basis which have not or cannot be resolved at ASBESTOS ISSUE a local or branch level or Maintenance workers identified asbestos issues that have national during a routine muffler change on a DSC significance. shunt loco. Since then all 29 DSC’s have The term of office is 2 years. been tested and 15 of the DSC’s are found to have a high risk of asbestos exposure. KiwiRail I & A Industrial Council Infrastructure Track Worker position. Asbestos has been found in the pipe lagging, engine, dust in the electrical Dave Taua is a track worker based at cabinets, lagging in the undercarriage, Westfield. No other nominations were gaskets and arc shields. Three DSC’s were received and so Dave was the winner – found to have asbestos dust in the cab and Congrats and we look forward to your 2 www.rmtunion.org.nz The Activist contribution on behalf of your peers on the individual basis. They were given a toolkit of Council. ideas and techniques to employ back on the job and by now will have started on actions KiwiRail Freight Industrial Council they identified as a priority in their worksite Locomotive Northern. and/or branch. Brendon Smith is a Locomotive Engineer Our thanks once again to our comrade union based at Westfield. No other nominations E-tu for use of their premises – we’re always were received and so Brendon was the made very welcome! winner – Congrats and we look forward to your contribution on behalf of your peers on the Council. LYTTELTON PORT DISPUTE KiwiRail Interislander Industrial GENERATES HUGE SUPPORT FOR Council Ferry Operations (Picton RMTU Outside Terminal) At the time of writing the RMTU’s dispute Malcolm Slater is a Ferry Terminal Operator with LPC remains unresolved. Members will in Picton. No other nominations were be aware from extensive mainstream and received and so Malcolm was the winner – social media coverage that members have Congrats and we look forward to your taken run a total of seven days of full strike contribution on behalf of your peers on the action and been illegally locked out for two Council. days. Whilst we are pursuing our legal rights in relation to the latter we are under no SUCCESSFUL TWO DAY illusions that this dispute is primarily industrial and not one that will necessarily DELEGATE TRAINING IN be resolved in court. CHRISTCHURCH Events are moving very fast and rather than Nine delegates and active members from give a blow by blow account of the dispute Dunedin Rail, Timaru for Activist readers that Port and Christchurch may well be out of date by Rail and Lyttelton Port the time it is published we Branches attended at want to focus on the huge two day course in amount of support we have Christchurch in mid- received from the wider February. One measure union movement and the of success of multi day general public. courses is if the Our comrades in other participants come back RMTU Branches across New after the first day: they Zealand, at the CTU, in all did so something MUNZ, FIRST Union, the was obviously going right! Tertiary Education Union, the Manufacturing The course covered basic organising on the and Construction Union, the Meatworkers’ job and used a variety of methods including Union, The Dairy Workers Union, Etu, the group work, active learning and film to PSA, and the NZ Nurses’ Organisation have enable people to process and share all given practical, moral and financial knowledge and also to learn and practice support ranging from the loan of a loudhailer skills. The benefit of having a two day to up to S10000 donation to our strike fund. course was that we were able to go into We have had wonderful guest speakers matters in far more depth than would be attend our demonstrations and meetings and the case if less time had been available. people have been generous with their time on the picket line and elsewhere. Thank you Members worked on the role of the comrades from the bottom of our hearts. delegate and active member; organising around issues; the structure of our union; Local Lyttelton band The Eastern played a health and safety and the RMTU; and free gig for our members and the new owner representing members on a collective and of the Lyttelton Arms in London street put on 5/04/18 3 www.rmtunion.org.nz The Activist a free pie and an pint for hungry and increase and committed the parties to thirsty strikers. Our members also received engaging in a High Performance High very positive comments from the public at Engagement (HPHE) type process to address rallies and demonstrations and at Lyttelton the underlying issues that led Transdev and market when we distributed leaflets. Even Auckland Transport to try and force driver our much publicised leaflet drop was only operation on our members. warmly received by the neighbours of LPC Organisation amongst members has never board members in their residential suburbs been better: attendance at meetings, rallies with several people complimenting the and demonstrations was first class; RMTU on our dignity and discipline. participation is higher than ever before with We hope to report the successful resolution members collecting signatures for petitions, of the dispute in the next issue of the lobbying politicians, conducting surveys and activist. supporting two bouts of industrial action – a one day strike in December and a week-long ALERT - SOCIAL MEDIA overtime ban that broke the impasse. The ratified agreement expires at the end of Social media use appears to be growing September so we have a four month and many people put a lot of personal breather to gather our strength for the next information in their profiles. A quick search round of negotiations, for advice on social media although if HPHE works as privacy informs that too it should discussions should much information can lead be far easier this time to hackers and identity round. theft. The link to the Returning The real concern we have is Officer memo that if you have your http://www.rmtunion.org.nz/artic employer stated in your les/article-bargaining.php profile then any interactions that you believe are just coming from you may be BLACK TUESDAY also include your employer KICKS OFF RAIL when someone checks your profile. This may then UNIONS CAMPAIGN breach an employer’s IT GAINST EO policy and potentially put A N - employment at risk. LIBERAL FRENCH Restricting access to profiles maybe one way around it but not listing your employer PRESIDENT at all is probably the best. French rail workers have launched three months of rolling train strikes, prompting AUCKLAND TRANSDEV street demonstrations and transport chaos, in the first major test for President BARGAINING CONCLUDES WITH Emmanuel Macron’s pro-business attack on 99% VOTE TO RATIFY workers’ rights in the state sector. COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT The first day of the strikes – dubbed “Black Tuesday” – caused large-scale disruption to The success of our negotiations with the country’s 4.5 million rail passengers. Transdev Auckland was demonstrated by Frantic crowds on Paris platforms queued to the huge majority in favour of ratification. squeeze themselves on to scarce trains with some passengers falling on to tracks, while The RMTU’s objectives going into talks were railway workers and students marched to secure real wage growth, protect our through major cities. members’ jobs and to build organisation on and off the job. We achieved all three with Over three-quarters of train drivers and a deal that secured a backdated 2.5% wage almost half of essential rail staff walked off 5/04/18 4 www.rmtunion.org.nz The Activist the job across the country. Only one members are reminded to utilise the update regional train in five and one high-speed of membership details link on our website TGV train out of eight was running. www.rmtunion.org.nz. Commuter lines into Paris were severely For example – All national Union elected affected and international train services positions are up for election this year and so were cut, with no trains between France, there may be votes conducted by mail. If we Switzerland, Italy and Spain and three out have the incorrect address info you will not of four trains running on the Eurostar get a vote as you will never receive a voting service connecting to London.