General News Vale Bob Plain (Plainy), 1945-2021 It is with sadness that we wish to advise members on the passing of Bob Plain in May, or ‘Plainy’ to those who knew him. Bob played a significant role in the AFULE, PTU and RTBU before retiring in 2002. He was the last AFULE President and very first PTU (RTBU) Locomotive Divisional Secretary and NSW Branch President. Bob Plain has become a name associated with the Rail Tram and Bus Union and tough negotiations and leadership of his beloved Locomotive Division. Bob retired from his State and National Union positions at the end of 2002. At the age of 57, and after a number of health-related problems Bob decided it was time to step down, spend some more time with his wife Robyn and family. The reins were handed to his deputy, Robert Hayden. While Bob Plain will be written into trade union history as a strong and effective union leader making a number of significant and lasting contributions to the rail industry, he insists he never had any ambitions to be a union leader. Bob started his career on the railway in 1960 at Eveleigh as a Call Boy and managed to get in trouble in his first day on the job. The day before he turned up for work was a Bank Holiday and he’d been told that he would start after the public holiday, only to be told in no uncertain terms that he was meant to be there a day earlier. He moved to Enfield in 1961 as a trainee engineman (and joined the Union – Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen – the AFULE), then worked as an acting fireman, becoming a fireman in 1964. While he was happy working on the railway, he had always dreamed of becoming a train driver since childhood. His dream was realised at Flemington in 1974 when he became an electric train driver until 1979, then returning to Enfield as a freight train driver. The Unionist Bob’s Union career started in about 1982, when he met Michael Costa and Noel Cox. He started going to meetings to plan an election campaign for the Union elections. They were contesting on a ticket opposing the incumbent team under Bernie Willingale. In those days, Bob says that it was almost unheard of for an AFULE official to be defeated at an election – you were usually considered a member for life. In 1986 Bob was successful at the union branch elections and was elected Senior Vice-President of the NSW Branch
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of the AFULE (as he modestly put it – ‘he was only there to make up the numbers’). Michael Costa was elected as Branch President. In 1989 Bob was defeated in the union elections (by 68 votes to Bill Stannard) By this time, Costa left to take up a position in Labor Council (where he later became Labor Council Secretary). Bob returned to Enfield and resumed as a Driver Trainer. In 1991 Bill Stannard took medical retirement and a new election was called for his position. Bob by this time had been “bitten by the political/union bug” and realised that he could achieve things for the members in the Union. Bob was re-elected as Branch President (winning against Laurie Cook). In 1993 the AFULE amalgamated with other rail unions to form the Rail Tram and Bus Union. Bob became Locomotive Divisional Secretary and Branch President in the amalgamated union in 1995. In interviews for On Wooden Rails in 2002, Bob recalled
RAIL & ROAD June 2021
