Sydneysiders set for more major public transport industrial action

By admin On Nov 1, 2022

Commuters in New South Wales are being warned to expect another round of public transport strikes, as the state government and transport workers’ union rail union have failed to settle their long-running dispute.

Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) secretary Alex Claassens threatened the NSW government with more strikes, claiming it had “failed to come to the bargaining table”.

Claassens said the union “had no choice” but to plan various levels of industrial action, which would affect commuters later this month.

Commuters are being warned to expect another round of train, bus and light rail strikes. (9News)

“It will start slowly and gradually ramp up to more serious action that will ultimately affect our communities in approximately two weeks,” Claassens said.

Previously the union had threatened to turn off Opal card readers, which would “cause a headache for the government while giving commuters free travel” but that was no longer a possibility.

“The NSW Government has taken away our ability to take turn off the Opal machines, action that doesn’t disrupt commuters at all, which is incredibly disappointing,” Claassens said.

The action will begin with overtime bans and a refusal to work with contractors.

After that, Claassens said the union would ban working on any train that’s not Australian-made, before stop-work action would eventually follow.

Claassens said the union “had no choice” but to plan various levels of industrial action. (Nine)

“As always, we are very disappointed to have to disrupt the communters yet again,” he said.

“We want the safety issues fixed first and foremost and then yes, obviously we will want to negotiate fair working conditions and wages for our network.”

There are no dates set for the industrial action, but the union is required to give formal notice of ten days before the commencement of any strikes.

Employee relations minister Damien Tudehope said there was an opportunity for Claassens and union members to approve “a generous offer” from the government, which would see an increase in worker wages.

“The transport system in this state is not owned and run by the RTBU,” Tudehope said.

“It is owned by the people, the commuters of this state… We need to run a proper rail system for their benefit, not for the benefit of the RTBU.”

The RTBU is demanding government decision-makers, including the premier or cabinet members, ”come to the table” to resolve the dispute.

It says its priority is to get the New Intercity Fleet (NIF) safety modification deed back in negotiations, which the union claims is lacking key features to protect train drivers and commuters.