Welcome to Sparks online!
           PO Box 92, BROADWAY 2007 NSW Australia.
 

EMAIL US   READ THE LATEST EDITION    READ ARCHIVED EDITIONS   This site requires the free Acrobat reader - DOWNLOAD HERE     If you have a dialup connection you might find it easier to right click the read latest edition link above, choose save target as, then open the PDF in explorer. DEAD MEAT ON THE BANKSTOWN METRO LINE? Some questions regarding the Minns & Warne Bogus Deal about the T3 Bankstown Line Metro Conversion 1. What is going to stop the Minns or another NSW Government welching on the deal to have a staff member on every Metro Train on the line? It will take two years or so for the Metro Conversion to be completed and by then the public and commuters would have forgotten the agreement. Until the latest Sparks Sept. - Oct. came out and circulated around traps in the railways, the RTBU officials were completely silent on taking industrial action to oppose the Metro Conversion. They just occasionally talked about opposition to the Metro Conversion to the Media. A secret deal involving the RTBU officials and Unions NSW would have been made years ago okaying the Metro Conversion. Warne would never have had any intention of seriously opposing the Metro conversion. For the timetable changes and line closure commencing from 30/9/24 to occur, the union officials and ALP Godfathers must have okayed it well in advance. 2. The staff member on each Train on the Metro line will have no industrial muscle due to the automation. How will they industrially defend their jobs if this welching on the deal occurs? Unlike particularly train crews and platform staff on the existing heavy rail with the guard having a more important role in safe working than the driver on the train. 3. Is this deal completely bogus and a sleight of hand like the N.I.F. Deed between previous RTBU NSW Secretary Alex Claassens and former NSW Liberal Premier Dominic Perrottet? It did not provide for a functioning Guard's compartment on the NIF. Despite lies spread in the media that the N.I.F. would have a functioning Guard's Compartment. Claassens and now Current RTBU NSW Secretary Toby Mr Pinocchio Warne have refused to put the Deed on the RTBU web site and social media because of its bogus character. Entailing bribing the guard on the NIF with a $14,000 lump sum to admire the scenery in the nonfunctioning guard's compartment for four years! Then a trip to the dole queue. 4. The Duplicity of Warne and the other union officials with this Campaign over the Bankstown line closure and Metro Conversion shows they can't be trusted running the NSW Rail EBA campaign. Establish grass roots committees to seize the driver's seat of the campaign to achieve the Real Demands. 5. Heavy Rail for the Bankstown Line!

 

CONTRIBUTIONS: Sparks welcomes contributions in the shape of poems, cartoons, songs, articles by transport workers. Please mail to SPARKS PO Box 92, BROADWAY 2007 NSW Australia OR email above. SUBSCRIPTION: To ensure that you get your copy of sparks on time and if you'd like to help us out, please consider subscribing to sparks by post. The damage is $5 for a one year subscription within Australia (for overseas rates please email for details). Please make cheques/money orders out to "Rebel Worker" in Australian dollars. SPARKS is published by Sydney Local of the Network for Democratic Unionism. Rebel Worker is the bimonthly paper of the Network for Democratic Unionism: Subs are $12 per year within Australia (for overseas rates please email for details). Please send your sub to: SPARKS, PO Box 92, Broadway 2007 NSW Australia. DISTRIBUTORS: SPARKS is always looking for people within the transport industry to distribute sparks on the shop floor. Please write or email for details.

 

What is Democratic Unionism? Democratic unionism means grass roots controlled unionism. This is as opposed to trade unionism. We advocate all workers in one industry be in one union so as to remove artificial divisions amongst workers. Such a union must be fully organised and controlled by the membership. To achieve this we want a union organised along the following lines:- 1. That no person employed by the union can earn more than the average income of the membership; 2. That spokespeople have no executive power - all decisions are made by the membership affected; 3. Spokespeople are only to act as delegates elected. The membership to carry out decisions made by the membership; 4. That a mechanism be instituted for the instant recall of spokespeople /delegates who break the above rules. 5. That all positions within the union be held as a limited tenure, ie. two years (unless no one else stands). 6. There is no body of full time paid officials. All loss of earnings are to be paid by the union to the extent of the lost wages. 7. That a programme of decentralised decision making be implemented within the union structure, so that we won't need full time     paid positions. Only in this way can we see a democratic united, fighting organisation be created which will stand up for the rights of workers and their families against all governments, political parties and all bosses.