Metro Tasmania: AMWU says mechanics have been offered no training for electric buses

Metro’s first battery electric bus arrives in days but the union representing Metro mechanics says members have been offered no nationally accredited training, instead having to allegedly subsist on a three-hour “show and tell”.

Custom Dennings' 'Element' battery electric bus. Picture: Custom Dennings

Metro mechanics may have to perform work on the operator’s new battery electric buses with minimal training, raising the unacceptable spectre of worker electrocutions, a union claims.

Metro is expected to receive the first of four Custom Denning battery electric buses this week. They will operate on Launceston routes as part of a two-year, $6m trial announced back in 2021.

Those buses will be followed in mid-2024 by three hydrogen fuel cell electric buses, which will operate Hobart routes for three years at a cost of $11.6m.

On Saturday, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union Tasmania state organiser Jacob Batt claimed that Metro mechanics, under the direction of fly-in-fly-out mechanics from the mainland, would be expected to maintain the new battery electric buses without proper training.

Mr Batt said mechanics were “upset and concerned” at working with the high-voltage batteries without proper tutelage.

“They have seen overseas mechanics being electrocuted, mechanics are dying. This is why you need to ensure the people are properly trained, skilled and able to perform this work safely,” he said.

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In the absence of TasTAFE offering the training – Tasmania is the only jurisdiction in Australia which does not offer courses in inspecting and servicing electric vehicles – Metro mechanics want to travel interstate to complete a four-day course.

However, that is not on the table, Mr Batt said.

AMWU Tasmania state organiser Jacob Batt outside Metro's Launceston depot, December 9, 2023. Picture: Alex Treacy

In a statement, Metro said no mechanics would be “asked to perform work that they do not consider they are competent to perform”.

It said that approximately 40 Metro mechanics would be given training on the new battery electric buses via Custom Denning, “as they are best placed to provide this training”.

“Generally speaking, specialised maintenance (such as warranty repairs and replacement of a battery) for the battery electric bus trial will be performed by the manufacturer as per the contract,” a spokesman said.

“This includes an opportunity for knowledge sharing to further inform the trial.”

Mr Batt characterised the training with Custom Denning as a “three-hour show and tell” that would also include drivers and Metro operations.

It was not an acceptable substitute for a nationally accredited course, Mr Batt said.

The Mercury asked for specifics as to what the training that would be offered to its mechanics entailed, how long it went for and who would be involved, but the Metro spokesman did not directly answer the question.

Originally published as Metro Tasmania: AMWU says mechanics have been offered no training for electric buses