EXCESSIVE DISCIPLINARY ACTION  

CIRCULAR: 67-09 Ref: EXCESSIVE DISCIPLINARY ACTION  

16 December 2009

On Tuesday 15 December 2009, the AFULE State Office met with QR Chief Human Resource Officer John Stephens and General Manager Workplace Relations Tim Conroy with respect to concerns that the methodology used by QR management, across all business groups, to improve the safety record of employees is having an adverse affect.

The AFULE advised at the meeting that it commends QR’s commitment to safety. Like QR, the AFULE wants its members to be able to come home from work in the same physical and emotional state in which they reported for duty. The AFULE further advised that we are aware that management have been charged with championing safety and to improve safety performance however we are concerned that the pressure to achieve improvements in safety performance is causing management to choose disciplinary action that is disproportionate to the incident and the performance record of the employee.

It is alarming the number of phone calls we are receiving from members who are advising that they feel physically ill at the thought of coming to work. Members have further advised that the threat to their employment security for making an inadvertent human error is causing them to make more mistakes at work as their mind is not on the job. This is very concerning.

The AFULE State Office advised the following concerns:

1.    Excessive disciplinary action – The AFULE is seeing a substantial increase in the amount of final warnings being applied to members who have been involved in a SPAD and/or an incident that can be construed as a safety breach. As we all know, as soon as members get in the cab of a loco, any human error made in the course of their duties can be construed as a safety breach due to the nature of the work.

Members will have also seen a few of their colleagues have their employment with QR terminated. The AFULE State Office has pursued any unfair dismissals via the appropriate jurisdiction.

The AFULE State Office advised that members have reported that having witnessed their colleagues receive excessive disciplinary action has caused them to feel like there is a “noose” around their neck. The AFULE State Office further advised that members are reporting that they feel physically ill at the thought of coming to work.

The AFULE State Office reported to QR Corporate in a meeting in August this year that the QR Discipline Process has a lot to be desired. There are only three remedies available to management with respect to managing any performance issues – that is a performance improvement plan, final warning and dismissal. This does not give enough appropriate remedies to management and only escalates the excessive disciplinary action that is being applied.

The AFULE State Office advised QR Corporate in August that there is a dire need to review the Discipline Process and add additional remedies. The AFULE State Office also requested a review of the process for dealing with SPAD’s. The AFULE State Office has been hounding QR Corporate since our August meeting to start the reviewal of both processes.

It was agreed at the meeting that the Discipline Process is in need of a review and additional remedies need to be added to the process. A date has now been set to commence the consultation of review for both processes – this will be done by mid January 2010.

2.    Excessive comments and communications regarding safety – The AFULE State Office advised that members have reported feeling intimidated and bullied by the constant comments made by management with respect to complying with safety. Comments such as “if you can’t comply with safety, then you don’t have a place at QR”, excessive notices displaying the number of SPAD’s and/or safety incidents and every QR newsletter stating the same safety message.

The AFULE advised that whilst management may have good intentions with promoting safety, the method of communicating safety in combination with the excessive disciplinary action being applied is having an adverse affect. Members are reporting that they feel intimidated in coming to work as the pressure to not make any mistakes is affecting their health.

The AFULE also advised that whilst QR is trying to keep safety at the forefront of people’s minds, the excessive disciplinary action and the excessive communication on safety is causing members to actually tune out the safety message and resent the communication being sent out by QR rather than improving safety performance.

3.    Safety issues are not being addressed when raised – The AFULE State Office also advised that members feel that the finger is being put on them to not make an error that can be construed as a breach of safety, however when they raise genuine safety concerns, the issues are not being addressed or are being palmed off as being trivial. This causes members to feel like it is more of a “blame the employee” game then actually addressing genuine safety concerns.

In summary, the AFULE State Office made it clear that we are supportive of QR’s commitment to safety. Any union would advise that the safety of its members is the number one priority. However, it is the methods used by management across QR that is causing an adverse affect rather than a positive improvement in safety.

The parties will be commencing the review of the Discipline Process shortly and this should alleviate a large part of the excessive disciplinary action that is being applied. Mr Stephens also committed to raising the other concerns raised by the AFULE with senior QR management at QR’s central safety committee meeting.

If you have any queries in relation to this matter, please don’t hesitate to contact the State Office on (07) 3252 1151 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Yours fraternally

__________________

GREG SMITH

STATE SECRETARY