The rail agencies’ lawyer, Alice Deboos, argued the ETU had not been excluded at any stage of the negotiations and the government had negotiated in good faith. She said the final log of claims in the in-principle agreement had been the subject of “extensive negotiations, bargaining and scrutiny”.
“Anything that’s going to cost any more money will, self-evidently, not be agreed by the rail agencies.”
Deboos noted most of 13,500 rail workers covered by the proposed wage agreement were supportive, and even “if the order [for the ballot to proceed] is not granted, the package is not going to change”.
She said it was not unusual in multi-enterprise agreements for a proposed deal to go to a vote without the support of one union, and the ability for the commission to order the vote to go ahead was intended as a “release valve” in such situations.
Transport Minister John Graham last week said the pay deal would enable rail workers to focus on improving the network’s reliability.
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