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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-11-12 Daily Xml
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Train Drivers, Enterprise Bargaining

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (15:00): My question is to the Treasurer. Can the Treasurer please update the council on the most recent negotiations, or final negotiations, with the train drivers?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:00): I am very pleased on behalf of the taxpayers of the state to indicate that there has been a very successful conclusion to what was threatened to be industrial action and disputation from the union bosses in the RTBU in relation to their enterprise agreement. As some will recall, I did characterise some of the union bosses as being sadly out of touch with the broader community in the midst of a global pandemic with their unreasonable demands for 4 per cent pay increases for each year for the next four years, together with some additional add-ons at taxpayers' expense, like car washing because, having to go out to Dry Creek, their cars might get a bit dirty. There were some other doozies like that from the union bosses.

Pleasingly, in the RTBU amongst the train drivers, there was a group, and I don't know that they would want to characterise themselves as a breakaway group. Mr Gary Collis, a former employee Ombudsman, represented, I think in the end, a growing group of people who clearly were disillusioned with the union bosses in the RTBU. I think they claimed, in the end, that they represented perhaps just more than 100 of the train drivers. They saw that the union bosses were being unreasonable in the midst of a global pandemic and urged support for the government's reasonable salary offer of 2 per cent over the next three years, as opposed to 4 per cent a year for each of the next four years, together with car washing because their cars were getting dirty at Dry Creek.

Pleasingly, the ballot concluded in the last 24 or 48 hours, and 85 per cent of the train drivers and other rail staff voted for the government's offer—85 per cent. As I said to some of the train driver representatives, that is an absolute flogging. That is what we call a landslide: 85 per cent of people supported the sensible and reasonable government offer.

In concluding, I do want to say that this government has been entirely reasonable with its hardworking public servants right across the board. Whilst some other governments—Labor and Liberal—around the nation have frozen Public Service wages, this government has continued to say we are prepared to offer reasonable, sensible salary increases for our employees. We concluded reasonable salary increases for our hardworking nurses, for our hardworking teachers. There is a ballot going on with the endorsement from the Police Association, and we hope that will be successful too for our very hardworking police officers.

These are sensible, reasonable, affordable, for the taxpayers of South Australia, salary increases. I am delighted that the majority of the train drivers in South Australia have rejected the unreasonable position of the RTBU leadership, have rejected the notion of extended, prolonged industrial disruption of our train services in South Australia and overwhelmingly have supported the government's sensible and reasonable salary increase.

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