Today MTC opened the ballot for acceptance of your new Enterprise Agreement.
It has been a tumultuous path to this point, with industrial action, seemingly endless meetings and Commission appearances. However, we may be within sight of the end.
While you may have seen previous bulletins that have detailed MTC’s 11th hour changes that have led to frustrating delays, the company now seems committed to closing the deal.
Your industrial action and solidarity led to significant improvements in what the company is offering. Your wages will be uplifted to competitive rates during the term of this proposed agreement which will be in force until MTC’s contract with the NSW Government expires in March 2026. The increased sign-on bonus, which again you fought for and won, should offer some compensation for the delays to date. And the ramifications of the media spotlight you shone on the company during negotiations, particularly in regard to the dangerous conditions you have been forced to endure, will be felt for some time and have contributed to a policy shift in regard to the perils of privatisation.
There are losers in the deal, after MTC unilaterally changed its offer to make the sign-on bonus pro rata for casual employees based on how many hours they have worked in the last year.
However, we think the benefits of voting YES this time far outweigh the uncertain consequences of not doing so.
Consequently we encourage you, if you haven’t already, to exercise your vote in favour of the agreement. We can then get straight to work in having it approved at the Commission and that pay rise in your pockets.
By standing together as a workforce and not individuals you have achieved great things for each other in terms of pay and conditions. Now the challenge is to maintain your solidarity and rage up to potentially massive changes in March 2026.
