PREPARED FOR MEMBERS

ROAD AND RAILINDUSTRY NEWSLETTER

• Registered Professional Engineer (RPEng)• Major Projects• Outlook

PROFESSIONALS AUSTRALIAROAD AND RAIL INDUSTRY NEWSLETTER

The way in which our nation’s road and rail networks are managed is under unprecedented scrutiny. Rapid population growth, rising commuter numbers and the ongoing urban sprawl are placing additional strain on our networks, and underlining the need for greater investment.

Road and Rail infrastructure is fundamental to a strong economy, linking people with jobs, and businesses with markets. However, congested infrastructure achieves the opposite, causing markets to contract, employment to falter and our economy to slow.

In 2015-16 Australia’s investment in road projects totalled $16.3 billion, with another $3.7 billion in rail investment. While investment in road projects grew by 6.8%, rail investment fell a shocking 29.8% over the past year.

Now more than ever, our governments need to ensure that infrastructure projects are being utilised to drive our economy. By ensuring an ongoing pipeline of major projects, the nation will receive a much-needed shot in the arm over the short term as building activity increases during construction. Even more significantly, the benefits will be magnified over the longer-term as we build nationally significant infrastructure projects and a more capable workforce.

Strong engineering capacity is vital in ensuring the best value infrastructure for taxpayer dollars. However, despite this major investment of funds and the community reliance on safe rail and road infrastructure, government in-house engineering capacity continues to decline. Outsourcing and departmental cost cutting are driving greater waste, and delivering poorer outcomes for taxpayer funds. With project proposals increasingly generated by the private sector, the professional capacity for governments to evaluate the scope and design of projects needs to be rebuilt so that we know we are getting value and quality.

Professionals Australia will continue to provide a voice for professional engineers, to advance the standing of the profession and promote greater recognition of the critical contribution road and rail engineers make to the wider community.

Chris WaltonCEO 

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Register as a Professional Engineer NOW!Engineer registration is established in Queensland soon to be introduced in Victoria. Other states are likely follow, lifting the standing of the profession. By completing your registration now you can be ahead of the game and recognised for your professionalism.

RPEng is the registration scheme for the Professional Engineer. Find out more here: www.rpeng.org.au

Registered Professional Engineer (RPEng)Registered engineers earn moreIt comes as a surprise to many people that engineers in Australia do not have mandated registration requirements. While other professionals like doctors, lawyers and teachers require professional recognition to practise, engineers do not.

Bringing registration for engineers into line with other professions will be a significant step forward, not just in improving community safety, but also in lifting the standing of the engineering profession generally. Proposals for registration are part of a wider suite of policies that will further enhance the profession.

Currently, only Queensland requires registration for engineers undertaking professional services; however, the landscape is likely to change dramatically over the coming year. The Victorian Government expects to introduce legislation in 2017 requiring engineer registration, the recently elected ACT Government proposed a registration scheme as part of its election platform, and the WA Opposition will also take registration to the upcoming WA election as one of its commitments. It is proposed that the new schemes will be closely modelled on the Queensland system to facilitate mutual recognition and skills transfers between the states.

Engineer registration is not only good for the profession, it is great for engineers. When evaluating the direct material worth of registration, a recent survey found the average income for currently accredited engineers is $33,602 higher than for non-accredited engineers. The wage premium applies across all responsibility levels, indicating that employers are willing to pay more for engineers that can demonstrate their quality through accreditation.

To learn more about engineer registration, contact us at rpeng@professionalsaustralia.org.au

Source: National Infrastructure Construction Schedule

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Major Australian Road and Rail Projects The significant cost of major road and rail infrastructure underlines how critical these industries are to the Australian economy. Effective transport infrastructure limits the economic loss associated with congestion, drives job creation, and provides the foundation for a fast-growing, high-employing nation.

A snapshot of the current major projects across each state provides a glimpse of the investment that governments are making in order to keep the Australians on the move. The scale of the investment highlights the importance of getting our infrastructure spending right.

State Project Cost

NSW WestConnex $16.8 billion

NorthConnex $3 billion

Sydney Metro $11 billion

QLD Cross River Rail $5.2 billion

Bruce Highway $8.5 billion

Morton Bay Rail Link $988 million

VIC Melbourne Metro Rail $10.9 billion

Western Distributor $5.5 billion

WA Gateway WA $1 billion

ACT Majura Parkway $288 million

TAS Midland Highway Upgrade Program $500 million

Tasmanian Freight Rail Revitalisation

$325 million

NT Tiger Brennan Drive Duplication

$103 million

Source: National Infrastructure Construction Schedule

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Salary Comparisons: Graduate Engineer Rates and Senior Engineer Rates

The following rates are the indicative agreement rates at each employer. The graduate rate is the rate at which an individual with a four-year professional engineering degree would be initially employed.

The senior engineer rate is the top rate that an individual can achieve through an enterprise agreement negotiated by Professionals Australia, excluding senior executive roles. Employers have mechanisms to remunerate senior engineers and managers above these agreement rates and these vary significantly between states.

Rail

Road

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Road and Rail

Australia’s investment in transport infrastructure has declined markedly from its peak in 2012. While governments have maintained some investment in vital road and rail projects, the decline has led to increased congestion and economic drain. Political jostling over spending has placed a major strain on infrastructure budgets, with governments across the nation fighting economic weakness by cutting costs.

However, it is becoming increasingly apparent that budget cuts are doing more harm than good, costing the nation jobs and forgoing vital infrastructure improvements that would drive growth. In a bright sign for engineers, a number of major projects have come on line in recent months, and construction has risen as a result. Growth in the value of work done provides an indication that governments are renewing their focus on infrastructure.

More significantly, while work done has grown, the level of scheduled work yet to be done has risen rapidly, increasing by 98% since early 2015. This provides a strong indication that the nation’s investment in infrastructure may have turned the corner, with an established pipeline of confirmed projects.

Figure 1: Value of major transport infrastructure work done in Australia

Source: ABS Catalogue 8762.0

Figure 2: Value of major transport infrastructure work yet to be done in Australia

Source: ABS Catalogue 8762.0

Road Australia relies heavily on its road network for both passenger and freight transport. Road provides the primary means of transport for much of the population, while road freight dominates non-bulk freight markets.

Major road projects continue to dominate infrastructure investment across Australia, and are typically well supported by voters. As a result, investment in roads is strong, with engineering construction work on roads across Australia totalling $16.3 billion in 2015-16¹. While infrastructure spending overall has declined over the past year, road projects have bucked the trend more recently, rising by 6.8% over the past year by absorbing funds from other areas of infrastructure.

Despite an upturn in road investment, major economic loss from congestion continues throughout major capitals, supporting the need for a pipeline of new projects as works are completed. Proactive and well-planned investment will be the key to ongoing growth in infrastructure-reliant industries and the economy as a whole.

Rail Investment in rail has fluctuated over the past five years, with government policies around rail investment varying across the nation. The Federal Government has continued to favour road projects, with the majority of support for rail coming from the states. Disappointingly, the past year signalled a major contraction in engineering construction work done on rail, with investment declining by 29.8% to total $3.7 billion in 2015-16. This is the second consecutive year of decline, with rail work almost halving over the past two years.

Over the past five years, there has been only minor expansion of capital city passenger rail networks. These have included minor extensions to existing lines in order to cater for the urban sprawl around major capitals and level crossing removals, with these projects supporting both rail and roads. Melbourne’s proposed Metro Rail Project is a sign that Australian public transport systems may yet embrace rail systems as a means of supporting cross-city travel. However, without major investment, Australia’s rail networks face a significant decline in quality, and also risk losing the skilled professionals capable of preventing this decline.

¹ ABS Catalogue 8762.02015

Figure 3: Value of engineering construction work done ($ millions)

Source: ABS Catalogue 8762.0

8Source: ABS Catalogue 8762.0

Outlook

Current projections of population growth – particularly around major capitals – will necessitate significant infrastructure improvements over the coming decades. The substantial lead time on major projects makes swift investment all the more important, as existing assets face the strain. The national freight task is also expected to grow, putting more trucks on the road and crowding rail networks. While road and rail will undoubtedly face significant challenges over the coming years, these challenges raise excellent opportunities for growth.

Governments at all levels have recognised the need to improve road networks, reduce bottlenecks and take freight traffic off suburban roads. This has encouraged a number of major projects, with more proposals in the pipeline. An upturn in scheduled work yet to be done provides the greatest indication that future infrastructure work is likely to increase, while poor economic growth figures will also encourage governments to bring forward growth-promoting infrastructure spending.

Project selection and funding The way the nations selects and funds infrastructure is changing, and both governments and the population is gradually accepting the new consensus. The topic of project selection is becoming increasingly important, with media coverage drawing additional attention to impartiality and a strong business case when projects are selected. Infrastructure Australia’s pri-ority list and similar state-based strategies ensure that the politics in project selection is minimised, with parties likely to stick close to the list when selecting major projects.

The remaining challenge will be for governments will to ensure that money is available to fund these new impartially-selected projects. Given the significant level of investment required in order to address the nation’s infrastructure backlog, funding will need to come from a range of sources. The population has come to accept user-pays models, with tolls providing a major source of funding. Major road projects are unlikely to go ahead without some form of tolling in the years ahead.

However, governments will not be able to rely on tolls alone, and debt will play an important part in determining the future of Australia’s road and rail networks. Governments have access to the cheapest finance in history, however a questionable adherence to austerity risks derailing the nation’s infrastructure. A sensible approach from government will be needed, that combines greater efficiency of spending with additional funding, if the nation’s infrastructure woes are to be addressed. 

Workplace Advice And Support

Your membership with Professionals Australia gives you access to our Workplace Advice and Support (WAS) service, provided by a team of skilled industrial lawyers. The WAS team can help you with workplace and industrial relations advice, support and representation.

Working hours

Under the Fair Work Act, an employer cannot ask or make a full-time employee work more than 38 hours per week, unless the additional hours are reasonable. Generally speaking, an employee will not be paid for the additional hours, unless this is contained within the employee’s contract, or if there is an Award or Enterprise Agreement which provides for this.

In some situations, the employee can agree to work extra ordinary hours per week, for example, 40 ordinary hours per week. In this situation, this arrangement should be outlined in the employee’s contract. The employer may offer some additional remuneration to compensate for additional hours. If not, the employee may wish to try and negotiate this.

Some Awards or Enterprise Agreements may allow for the averaging of hours of work over a specified period. However, the average weekly hours over the period should not exceed 38 hours per week for a full time employee.

Sometimes employees may find that they are working more than 38 ordinary hours per week. The Fair Work Act allows employees to refuse to work additional hours if they are unreasonable. There is no legislative definition, or chart or formula, of what constitutes “reasonable” additional hours. Instead, the Fair Work Act lists a number of factors which must be taken into consideration when determining whether additional hours are “reasonable”.

Some of these factors include:

• any risk to employee health and safety from working the additional hours;

• the employee’s personal circumstances, including family responsibilities;

• the usual patterns of work in the industry, or the part of an industry, in which the employee works.

If you are concerned that you are being asked to work unreasonable additional hours, you should raise this matter with your supervisor or manager and explain why you believe the additional hours are unreasonable.

If this does not resolve the issue, or if you do not feel comfortable discussing this with your employer, you can contact the Workplace Advice & Support team at Professionals Australia for assistance on 1300 273 762.

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What happens at the end of your employment?

A person’s employment can end for a variety of reasons including resignation, termination, and redundancy. If your employer terminates your employment, they should provide you with written notice of the date of termination. The employee can be asked to work out the notice period (or part of the notice period), or otherwise will be paid in lieu of notice (unless it is a situation of summary dismissal).

The Fair Work Act provides the minimum period of notice for employees: If the employee’s period of continuous service with the employer at the end of the day the notice is given is

• not more than 1 year, the period of notice is 1 week;

• more than 1 year but less than 3 years, the period of notice is 2 weeks;

• more than 3 years but less than 5 years, the period of notice is 3 weeks;

• more than 5 years, the period of notice is 4 weeks; or

• If the employee is over 45 years old and has completed at least 2 years of continuous service with the employer at the end of the day the notice is given, then the notice period is increased by one week.

Some Awards or Enterprise Agreements also contain the amount of notice required to be given by an employer, which may differ from the information above. However, the information above provides the minimum notice requirements. The employee should also receive a payout of any accrued annual leave and long service leave (if applicable). This will generally occur by the next regular pay cycle after the date of termination.

If you are not paid out your entitlements upon termination, you can contact the Workplace Advice & Support team at Professionals Australia for assistance. Our phone number is: 1300 273 762.

What types of issues to Road and Rail members seek help with?

10% RESTRUCTURE /

RECLASSIFICATION

17% TERMINATION / REDUNDANCY

22% CONTRACTS

18% PERFORMANCE /

REVIEWS33% OTHER

MATTERS*

* Other matters may include advice on the terms of an Award or EBA, support with unfair termination, queries on leave entitlements etc.

State by State Updates

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VICTORIA The unions and management completed bargaining negotiations and reached an in-principle agreement on the new enterprise agreement at VicRoads in February 2016. Negotiations are also complete for new enterprise agreements at Metro Trains (Infrastructure), Metro Trains (Rolling stock) and V/line. Protracted negotiations continue at Victrack.

QUEENSLAND

NEW SOUTH WALES

Engineers at Department of Transport and Main Roads are voting on their new enterprise agreement. The Agreement has in-principle support from the members and includes back pay to July, new mechanisms to control contracting out of Engineering roles and work towards eliminating unpaid overtime. Members at Queensland Rail have won a 25% increase in internal engineering resources in Signaling Engineering and commitments to properly police registration of engineers.

At Sydney Trains, PA members have been organising to deal with restructures involving regrades and job cuts. This involves members and reps leading our position in consultation and making sure all affected employees are having a say and getting involved. It’s a tough slog but member action has prevented jobs being lost and makes sure we get the best out of a process that often seems to be more about “cultural” change than improving engineering and technical capacity and capability. It’s an important role, especially in the lead up to next years’ EBA and DEED negotiations.

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SOUTH AUSTRALIA DPTI continue to de-engineer the department, with a recent announcement to restructure the technical services. Whilst DPTI acknowledges that is should be a leader in infrastructure, the consultation document focuses on developing partnerships with business rather than developing internal capabilities.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA At Main Roads we are continuing a campaign with the CPSU/CSA to resolve an attack on members’ entitlement to accumulate flexi time. This is proving difficult to win as we need concrete evidence to take it to the WAIRC. We continue to talk to members to discuss the impact on the attack on hard won conditions and what this could ultimately mean to the EBA negotiations in 2017.

After many months of negotiations at PTA where the Western Australian Department of Commerce continually changed the playing field (introducing clauses that would reduce existing conditions), we have finally come to an outcome of a 1.5% increase in remuneration over a two-year term, with no reduction to previously won conditions.

TASMANIA

A.C.T.

We are currently preparing to meet with members and form a log of claims for the upcoming 2017 DIER Engineers agreement EBA.

Members in Roads ACT and TAMS will begin negotiations for their new enterprise agreement shortly Movement across to the new Infrastructure Officer/Manager classification, which was negotiated by PA under the current agreement is virtually complete for members in Roads ACT but continuing for other eligible members in other parts of TAMS and ACT Government.

STREET ADDRESS 163 Eastern Rd, South Melbourne Victoria 3205, Australia

POSTAL ADDRESS GPO Box 1272, Melbourne Victoria 3001, Australia

TELEPHONE 1300 273 762

FAX +61 3 9695 8902

EMAIL info@professionalsaustralia.org.au

WEB www.professionalsaustralia.org.au