ETU: QR privatisation by stealth

The plan to allow a private company to maintain rolling stock at the new multi-million dollar Wulkuraka train maintenance depot has been slammed by the rail union as privatisation by stealth.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Scott Emerson said in yesterday that the private sector would supply 75 six-car trains that would be maintained by a "public-private partnership".

The two companies bidding for the work are Bombardier Transportation Australia and AdvanceRail.

But Jason Young, state rail organiser for the Electrical Trades Union, said: "This is the start of the privatisation of the passenger trains of Queensland Rail (QR).

"The Newman government say they won't privatise without getting a mandate, but they are doing it by stealth."

For the future, he said, it could mean "the closure of the yard at Bowen Hills and less work there".

"It will mean less job certainty for employees because ... as the fleet is replaced the older vehicles will be retired and the workforce dwindled down, with the work going to private contractors," he said. "All their employment conditions will be gone."