Queensland Labor previously caved to rail union demands
PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk’s threat to stare down the state’s powerful rail union has been undermined by new details of how easily her Government caved in to its demands.
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PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk’s threat to stare down the state’s powerful rail union has been undermined by new details of how easily her Government caved in to its demands.
Ms Palaszczuk has vowed to stand up to the Rail, Tram and Bus Union over its last-ditch legal challenge to block Queensland Rail from hiring train drivers from the general public.
As revealed by The Courier-Mail, the RTBU is appealing a Fair Work Commission decision giving QR the go-ahead to fill vacancies through an external hiring drive.
The union is arguing the hiring drive breaches tightened closed-shop recruitment rules at QR pushed through under the Palaszczuk Government in April last year – months after the driver shortages struck with hundreds of train service cancellations.
Ms Palaszczuk said the Government would stand by a recommendation from the independent Strachan Inquiry into the QR meltdown to hire drivers from the wider public.
“What I will say is this: the union does know very clearly my Government’s strong view, and that is that we are implementing the Strachan recommendations,” she said.
“That does mean external recruitment, and that is not going to change.”
However a union official has provided stunning evidence to the commission that QR made no attempt to remove the closed-shop hiring rule – even after the inquiry identified the hiring restrictions as a contributing factor to the rail network meltdown.
RTBU official Shayne Kummerfeld told the commission QR made no attempt to take the rule off the books after the rail network meltdown.
“Even after (the inquiry), QR did not seek to change or remove the drawn-out step-by-step process for recruitment that we had sought and gained agreement on only a short time earlier,” he told the commission.
“The agreement was signed on March 22 and 23, 2017, and still, the clause requiring QR to exhaust internal recruitment before recruiting externally remained in the agreement.”
Under the agreement, a new step was introduced forcing QR to advertise driver jobs to the wider 6000-strong organisation before being able to fill the spots from the general public.
The enterprise agreement was signed by QR’s board after government pressure.
Mr Kummerfeld’s description of the deal directly contradicts denials at the time by former transport minister Stirling Hinchliffe that his Government had tightened internal hiring.
He then told Parliament a report by The Courier-Mail revealing the change was “erroneous”.
QR did not respond to questions about why it signed off on the bolstered internal hiring rules but said it was continuing with its external driver recruitment round.
State Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said the deal had come back to bite the Government.
“What we have seen with this sweetheart deal with the unions is that it has completely backfired on the Government,” she said.
“They have lost control and the unions are now out there with full control over this process.”
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