QR still on inside rail

QUEENSLAND Rail is yet to appoint a single “outsider” to fill dozens of train driver vacancies.

And documents show the state’s powerful left-aligned train driver union is continuing to wage a war against dismantling the QR “closedshop” that helped spawn the 2016 “rail fail”.

QR has confirmed that “no external applicants who do not have prior Queensland Rail driving experience have been selected as of yet”.

Chief executive Nick Easy said the external hiring drive was in its “final stages”.

A driver hiring campaign was first launched in late 2015, but QR only threw the 200 jobs open to outside applicants in September last year after the $2.5 million Strachan inquiry into the timetable meltdown tied “closed shop” union rules to the train driver shortage.

The inquiry confirmed internal-first hiring rules had stalled efforts to fill driver vacancies.

But the Rail Tram & Bus Union then created further delays by attempting to block QR hiring outsiders in the Fair Work Commission.

It ultimately lost, but has appealed.

A decision on the appeal is yet to be delivered. QR refused to say whether it had delayed appointing external recruits pending the Fair Work Commission’s final ruling.

The RTBU appeal hinges on tightened internal-first hiring rules signed-off under the Palaszczuk Government in the 2017 traincrew enterprise agreement.

Emails released to under Right to Information legislation earlier this year revealed it strongarmed the QR board into signing the deal.

It added a new step forcing QR to first offer driver jobs to guards, then to every QR employee before being able to advertise publicly – effectively undermining the Strachan Inquiry recommendations.

QR have had a net gain of just 33 qualified drivers (of which 16 are actually driving full-time) since the October 2016 timetable collapse.

QR figures show drivers are earning up to $200,000 after overtime.