CityCat services are unlikely to be plagued with the same staff overtime dramas as Queensland Rail, with union officials saying employees no longer have that opportunity.
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Earlier this week, Fairfax News reported that CityCat commuters were blissful compared with train and bus users.
But CityCat workers say they are far from happy.
QR's unsustainable reliance on driver overtime to meet services was noted as a factor in the beleaguered operator's issues in the Strachan inquiry.
Maritime Union of Australia Queensland deputy branch secretary Jason Miners said a new enterprise bargaining agreement was introduced in May 2016, and about 20 new masters were hired for CityCats and the CityHopper over the past 12 months, removing the ability to get overtime.
"Masters are earning the same amount of money they were 10 years ago because there's absolutely no prospect of overtime," Mr Miners said.
"There's some really bad cases where there's people $800-900 a fortnight worse off but for the most of it, it's $200-$300."
Mr Miners said hours had been wound back to a standard 38 hours per week when previously masters could get 10 to 20 hours of overtime a week.
"Given the low rate of pay they're on, that would be able to see them through, pay their bills and their mortgages and whatnot," he said.
"These masters have lost significant earnings and yet, still they go to work and deliver what we've seen in the press of late, a really good service."
Mr Miners said Transdev, which operates the service, needed to pay for extra costs, such as overtime, whereas Brisbane City Council paid for an annual contract.
Mr Miners said there was also an issue of underpayment in base wages in the past, which was being investigated.
Maritime Union of Australia national league officer David Greene said new rosters meant many employees were also being given split shifts - working in the morning and afternoon.
Mr Miners said the timetable was also much tighter, putting pressure on staff to stop quickly at each stop and leaving less time, for example to slow down and negotiate around rowers.
"Before there was a bit more flexibility in that timetable," he said.
Mr Greene said training was insufficient which he said he believed caused damage to vessels and pontoons.
And Mr Miners said the CityHoppers were only staffed by one person, which could cause safety issues.
Mr Greene said safety issues were raised with the council but it had not resulted in intervention.
A Transdev spokeswoman said it operated with "uncompromising standards of safety in line with the National Standard for Commercial Vessels".
"And manage our staff employment conditions as required by the Fair Work Act 2009," she said.
The spokeswoman said service delivery was governed by industry regulators, Australian Maritime Safety Authority and Maritime Safety Queensland.
"We value all feedback from our teams and their union representatives with numerous channels for this information to be considered by our management teams," she said.
"Transdev are confident that the standards of professionalism, training and overall delivery provide best practice to staff and customers alike."
A Brisbane City Council spokeswoman said the EBA was between Transdev and its staff and it would be inappropriate for council to intervene in the process.
She said Transdev received an annual contract payment from the council for operation and maintenance of CityCat services, with no funding for additional staff to meet services.
The latest EBA is due to expire in May 2018.
