Overview of the role and importance of unions
The following paper discusses upon the various relevant issues in the contemporary trade relations background. The role of the trade unions has been very much important because they have showed their intent in the matter of interfering into the decisions of the government and private organizations. The trade unions also have played a major role in the rail strike that took place in the month of January in 2018. The agenda was pretty clear and the workers were very angry in this matter. The irrelevant clauses in the agreements had resulted in the strikes and the major parties had been involved in this. There was no other way left for the trade unions but to call the strike as their rights had been badly hampered in the due course. The impact of this strike was definitely heavy on the communities but this was the only way to shout and protest against the railway administration within the country (Bowden, 2009). The life of the passengers had been very badly halted because of the train strike. In this paper, the root cause of the strikes and the other inherent issues would be discussed. This indeed will be very much vital for the further research into this matter.
The role of the trade unions has always been a very important aspect in the different organizations in Australia. In some cases, the workplace process is completely dominated by the trade unions. The incident will be discussed in this section. In the month of January this year, the Railway workers had become tremendously outraged due to different issues in their workplace procedures. The outrage was seen mainly in the regions of New South Wales and Sydney. It was very much evident that the railway workers had decided to go for strikes for a number of times because of several reasons (Bramble, 2008). These reasons had caused serious havocs in the transportation system in the region. However, the demands of the workers were not baseless at all. This was the outcome of a long running frustration among the employees (Bowden, 2009).
The protest work was mainly initialized by the workers of the New South Wales branch of the Railway, Tram and Bus Union. The people who were involved in this protest work were the employees who worked in the various posts of the Railway transport (Wright & Lansbury, 2014). The workers were very much outraged against the New South Wales and Sydney Trains management. The target of all the attacks was the Transport Minister of the country Andrew Constance. The Railway, Tram and Bus Union leaders went on to lead the protest in the best ways they could. Another party that was involved in this process was the Fair Work Commission of Australia (Bowden, 2011). They took their stance against that of the RTBU. There were some root causes as to why the entire thing took place. These are:-
- There were many disagreements in the railway transport among the workers regarding the working conditions in the region. They had stated that the management used to change their rosters just 4 to 5 days before the festivals like Christmas and New Year.
- The workers wanted their pay scale or wages to be increased by a large amount. Till then they were not agreed for the overwork. They were of the opinion that their wages should be increased by at least 6% per annum. However, the Railway management was only ready to increase the wages up to 2.5%. The salary increment was not accepted by the Railway department. The daily commuters had been largely affected by this incident in a huge manner as well.
Root causes of the 2018 strike
These strikes had huge negative impacts on the lives of the daily commuters indeed. As the entire railways system had been broken ddonw in New South Wales and Sydney, the lives of tne daily commuters had come to a screeching halt (Bramble & Kuhn, 2010). This widespread chaos could not be controlled by the police since the entire system was completely down. There were long queues everywhere in the region. The people had to suffer long delays of trains due to these continuous strikes. Most of the drivers had participated in the program. This is why there were not enough drivers to run the trains. Earlier the declaration came from the RTBU that the workers of the railway would participate in the indefinite strike that would begin on the 25th of January (Bishop & Cassidy, 2017). Their main concerns were the payment issues, the roster changes in the festive times and the overwork issues. However, the decision of the union had changed. Afterwards, they had decided to go for a 24 hours strike that would be held on the 29th of January. However, an election was held in the later times (Cooper & Ellem, 2008). This election revealed that most of the employees were in favor of the strike as their demands were not met by the Railway department at all. However, the Fair Work Commission did not agree with the situation since they feared the services of the NSW and Sydney railways will be disrupted. The general public will suffer a lot and this will create a bad impression on the public as well (Bramble & Kuhn, 2010).
As per the progress of the situation, it began to go out of hand. This is the time when the Railways department had somehow managed the workers for the new pay deal. This new pay deal had been done in a way that the annual salary increase will be fixed at 3%. This annual salary increase will go on for the next three years indeed. As this happened, the entire industrial strike had been withdrawn by the employees and the union (Cooper & Ellem, 2008). This strike had been successful to some extent since the workers had been successful in achieving the better working conditions. It was assured by the upper management that their rosters will not be changed at the time of the festivals (Gall & Fiorito, 2012). After the entire thing, some of the officials of the Railway, Tram and Bus Union said that most of the officials were still not happy with the decision. Thus the RTBU has been playing a very big role in communicating with the people in the most effective ways. The railway workers had felt that the working environment had not been proper over the last few years (Muir, 2008). The raise of the wages had to be kept in mind since they always deserved that wage addition because of their complex work they perform day after day. The RTBU will definitely cope up with the different employment challenges properly by highlighting them to the higher management (Peetz, 1998).
Contributions and limitations of Rail, Tram and Bus Union
It has been a huge issue for the daily commuters during those times. The railway management has been very much active in this situation (Gahan, & Pekarek, 2012). However, it had been said by the secretary of NSW railway union that the passengers had been given the proper notice about this issue. They have been suggested to make the alternative arrangements for themselves. The demand of the revision in the enterprise agreements had given the rise to this fact in the proper manner (Peetz & Russell, 2000). This is why the railway workers could not find any other option but to go for the strike positively. The Railway Tram and Bus Union also expressed their views that they did not want to take such kind of action but the circumstances had made him do that. They were very angry at the Transport Minister mainly since he had not made any proper announcements. The daily commuters had been standing in the long lines to catch the trains. In this matter, the chief executive of the Sydney Trains had given the warning that chaos would increase if drivers made refusals to work in an unplanned way or they were being under the overtime roster (Peetz & Russell, 2000).
As per the union secretary of the New South Wales railway union, the union had been trying to make the proper negotiations with the government regarding the enterprise agreements for more than six months. The government did not show any kinds of signs in revising the enterprise agreements (Peetz, 2006). There have been around 9000 workers in the NSW Railways and the government has not been able to make any amendments in the process. The secretary of the RTBU has always emphasized on the fact that the payment and basic conditions always have an impact on the safety of the workers. The NSW Government and the train management have refused to make any talks about the changes in the payment and basic conditions. The safety of the workers has been hampered very badly as well (Peetz, 2012).
This is why the railway management has not treating with the employees very badly. The hard-working employees have been deprived of their opportunities regarding the pay rise. The employees have said that they demand the fair working conditions that will help them to work in a better manner (Peetz & Bailey, 2012). The increase in the wages will also keep them in a safe position indeed. The government had the power to put a halt to the strike if they wanted to. The railway strike could be withdrawn by the negotiation process for the ‘fair agreement’. He also has added the fact the railway workers are not at all happy about the current rostering system and day off claims. These things have been very much problematic for the current management of the organization. Mr. Classens, the secretary of the NSW Union has opined that the employees want the proper recognition for the hard work that they put in every day in and day out. The employees have wanted the 6% pay rise per annum so they can get a better recognition for their works indeed (Peetz & Bailey, 2012).
Ways for improvement
The Transport Minister Andrew Constance has opined that this strike by the RTBU to be extremely foolish and ridiculous. He has termed this action by the RTBU as ‘weird behavior’. Mr. Constance has said that this step is just not worth it since the RTBU is not putting their services for the customers as the first priority indeed. He has feared that the entire city will be shut down if this action is being implemented properly (Schmitt & Mitukiewicz, 2012). The ego and the demands of the RTBU union have been put first well ahead of the customers. This is not the right way to approach the situation. The Government was trying to increase the pay wages of the employees as per their wage policy as of 2.5% per annum. The demand of increasing it 6% per annum is entirely illogical as well. Mr. Constance has requested the union to put the customers as the first priority indeed and withdraw their strike. As the employees had voted in favor of taking the action of the strike it has become a big headache for the organization as well. It has been observed that around 94% of the Sydney railway employees have voted in favor of the strike and 90% of the NSW railway employees have given their votes in favor of the strike (Oliver, 2016).
It has been seen in this context that the Transport Minister of the country has been very much arrogant about this issue and he has stuck with his point of not supporting the issue of the strike. The union has played a major role in protesting against the current enterprise agreements to which the railway workers of NSU and Sydney are subjected to. The NSW union secretary Classens has put the entire blame on the minister. This has been a huge problem and misunderstanding between the two people since the lives of the passengers would be highly affected in this way. Mr. Classenns has also asked for forgiveness to the daily commuters and has also said that they would be able to provide better services if the NSW and Sydney government would listen to their plea. This activeness of the employees and the RTBU has been very much influential for the betterment of the process. The daily commuters have been enraged at the decision of this strike indeed (Schmitt & Mitukiewicz, 2012). The viewpoint of the Transport Minister of putting the customers first cannot be ignored as well. Mr. Classens also has been enraged and said that they have been trying their best to make Mr. Constance talk to them about the issue. However, not much could be achieved by their point as well. He has accused the Transport Minister has been very much accused and RTBU has not been able to communicate with them in the best manners. The suggestion of the RTBU had been rejected by Mr. Constance in an abrupt manner. The additional demands of the train drivers were that they did not want to work overtime as they put in a lot of hard work already (Yates & Fairbrother, 2013).
Implications for different sectors of Australian society
As the commuters have largely felt the impact of this strike, they have complained against this thing widely. They have taken out their anger and frustration on the social media as they were badly embarrassed. The delays were so immense that they could not board the trains that came after a long time because the immense overcrowd. The Transport Minister has termed it as ‘an act of God’. Some of the travelers could not even enter some of the platforms in the areas like Central and Wynyard due to the immense overcrowding of the station (Yates & Fairbrother, 2013). The RTBU Union did not want to take the responsibility of this since they held the Sydney and NSW Government for the entire mishap. The three strikes almost took out the various areas in regards to the train routes, signaling system and substations. This factor has been termed as ‘an act of God’ by the arrogant transport minister. He also apologized to all the commuters since earlier they put more trains in the region of Sydney and NSW to support the overall growth of the region and the benefits of the daily commuters (Creighton, Denvir & McCrystal, 2017). The problem has been the fact that more drivers than expected have gone on sick leave. The reasons for the delays as described by the railway management have been shown as these sick leaves, the bad weather and the increase in the patronage. These things will have to be looked after with a better manner indeed. This is how the organization could cope up with the problems (Wright & Lansbury, 2014).
The disruption in the train services has been such that the passengers have been very ill affected. Some of the senior officials have termed this incident as the train service that is provided in the various third world cities. The opposition leader of the New South Wales union has opined these delays cannot be accepted at all (Fairbrother, Lévesque & Hennebert, 2013). These disruptions have been so immense that the passengers have raised their voices in the social media as well. The passengers have been stopped by the employees and the barriers in the platforms (Fossum, 2014). These things have been very much crucial as highlighted by the passengers. About 40 drivers were on sick leave and this had been the major cause for the delays indeed. Amidst these problems, the Transport Minister tried to lighten the matter by saying the drivers had fallen sick and it was not abnormal. He emphasized on the matter that he himself had been ill a few days back (Wilkinson et al., 2014).
It had been found that there has been a huge staff shortage. This staff shortage could also be a huge matter in this context. The railway management has said that the current drivers had been made to work overtime because of these staff shortages. The NSW government is made to be the liable party since they have no such people who could work in place of the drivers who have been ill. The RTBU has been very much agitated regarding this matter and they have said the NSW Government can be held entirely responsible for this affair. The further investigations would have to be carried on in this regard indeed. The senior officials also added that would have to work harder after the dismissal of the strike. It is because they will have to make the people reach their homes safely (Levinson, 2013).
Conclusion
As per the above discussion, the conclusion can be drawn in this regard that the strike called by the Railway, Tram and Bus Union has been very much hazardous for the passengers. This has caused many problems across the region as well. The fight between the Sydney and NSW Union has been going on largely since the employees have gone for the sick leaves. This has broken down the entire system. This is why the railway management is looking forward to take some strict decisions by which the entire problem could be solved. The payment issues and the issues regarding the roster will have to be taken care to avoid such havoc problems. Another issue that has been identified behind this strike is that of the staff shortage. The union leaders and a large section of the employees have also urged the NSW Government to take the proper and strict actions against this issue. This will benefit the purpose and smooth railway operations could be provided. These things are extremely essential for the railways management to consider since the priority of the customers should be put at first.
References
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