[–]topgreen 150 points 11 days ago
Currently we start and finish work at the same location. I live in the eastern suburbs and work at an outstation near where I live. With the new system they want to change it around completely. Firstly they don't want you to start and finish work at the same place, so you might start work at Ringwood station and finish work at Werribee. This means you have to travel back to Ringwood in your own time if that is where you live. Their second proposal causes more problems because they want to change the rostering system completely. Currently rosters are worked out well in advance. I work a 40 week roster, so I can look up months ahead and know exactly what time I start work and what my days off are. Their new system means we will only have 11 hours notice of what shift I'm doing tomorrow. I live in Ringwood so I'd ring up for tomorrow's shift and they say I have to go to Sunbury (as an example) to start work. So I travel to Sunbury but my shift might finish at Frankston...or Ringwood. But because I started work at 4:00am I have to drive the car to work so I have to return to Sunbury to get my car then drive back home to Ringwood. The following day I ring up and they say I have to start at Werribee. It could be anywhere in the system.
I've got young kids and pay for childcare. I'll have no consistency, not know what I'm doing each day and cannot plan for anything. The only rule is we need 11 hours off between shifts so I could start at 4:00am on Monday, 7:00pm Tuesday,, 2:00pm Wednesday, 9:00am Thursday and so on... Would you want to catch my train knowing that? Currently we do morning shifts all week then change to night shift the following week with the ability to swap shifts. Fatigue management is a serious and important factor in our jobs and they want to take that away.
This dispute is not about money, it is not about pay rises. It's about working conditions and my ability to function as a human being while trying to do a job that I take very seriously. I worked very hard to get my drivers qualifications. Ask any train driver how hard the course was, they have a huge failure rate because the course is so difficult but you can be assured the person sitting up the front of your train knows exactly what they are doing and you know they've had enough sleep last night. The job is stressful sometimes but we accept that because all jobs are in their own way, but what management want to do will cause damage to the public transport system and I guarantee more mistakes will occur because of the added stress the these change will create.
I've got 35 years left until I retire (assuming the robots don't take over before then) and it's a job I enjoy and take pride in. These changes will take away all that and it's something that's worth fighting for. I'm just sorry the short term industrial action is causing issues for passengers but I've got a long time left until I retire and I want to make sure it's a job I can guarantee is safe for myself and the thousands of people I take to work every day.
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