Re: Independent Review of Rail Safety Arrangements in Australia

["Rod" <comtrain@mpx.com.au>]

> > John Kerley
> >
> Seen it from both ends of the train John and from other branches as
well,It
> used to be common  that out of hearing of the Drivers it was well known
that
> Drivers would inherit the railways,because 1/ They knew every body else's
> jobs and could do them better,be it guard,station master,shunter,train
> examiner.signal adjuster,or diesel maintainer.Sig fitters/maintainers had
> them stuffed because they had 7P locks on there gear and the drivers
> couldn't adjust any thing,but I am sure they would replace globes in
signals
> given the necessary material 2/ there union was strong and went into fight
> for them 3/ the trains can not run with out them 4/ Many of them deep down
> hated the idea that the guard was actually in charge of the train ,R&R
> Victorian Railways 184 (b),and looked forward to the day when guards where
> gone,
> But that's life and its all about survival of the fittest.
> Cheers
> Graeme

A couple of things wrong with this post and I just have to correct them!
In Victoria
1:   Guards never actually lost!
      Those that wanted , got a very very good package, almost double what I
was offered two years later.
      90% of the rest [guards] came up the front on the Engine, in a lot of
cases snoring their heads off, and kept many drivers out of their home
      depots. I know this well I spent 20 years vegetating at Dynon, whilst
the guards sat in the second seat at Wodonga.
      Not one of them is left now, and according to the old blokes I meet up
here most were as useless up the front as they were in the van.
      There were some exceptions of course, several (out of 200 plus guards)
actually retired as Drivers.
2.    It would be the opinion of most that the ARU did win this fight, as
very few Driver Trainees were employed by any of the Railway Systems
       in this country after this 'win'. When Keating forced the Unions to
amalgamate The ARU took the reins and senior positions and absorbed
the AFULE, buildings, Bank book the lot. Frank disappeared joining the
bosses with the rest of the so called expertise,as the mad scramble of other
union leaders, instructor Drivers and Training Centre Types all went to NR
[thanks be to God] and left the union to
      be run by Bourke and the other old stagers of the ARU. It took years
for the new Driver Unionists to get the action going, and by then it was
      all lost, Howard and cronies had changed the laws and we were beaten.
      And so The Guards stayed, and the driver trainee disappeared. The ARU
is the new Union..and that's the way it is.
Rod