Image: Sydney will face more rail strikes this week as trains will stop on Thursday from midnight to 4am. Photo: Pixabay.
By ERIN MODARO
Sydney can expect further rail strikes next week, as The Rail, Tram and Bus Union has announced that industrial action will continue, following failed negotiations with the NSW government. The Union said in a media statement that a four hour stoppage will occur on Thursday July 28 from midnight to 4am.
Union Secretary Alex Classens said in the statement that the government is refusing to give in to demands for fixing safety concerns about the New Intercity Fleet, as well as a 3.5% pay increase for workers. Classens said that it’s “extremely disappointing” that the union has to continue taking industrial action, but that the issue could have been resolved by now if the government “did the right thing”.
“It seems the NSW Government thinks that rail workers will eventually give up and just agree to put commuters at risk by allowing the New Intercity Fleet to run. That simply won’t happen.”
Classes says the Union won’t be “bullied into accepting an inferior enterprise agreement”, and that both workers and passengers deserve the safe conditions that the union is calling for.
“This is about keeping commuters safe and simply giving our essential rail workers the basic take-home pay and conditions they deserve.”
Government told they can’t block industrial action at hearing
The continued action comes after the NSW government lost its case at the Fair Work Commission to block the union from further strikes. The government attempted to appeal for the Union to be penalised for continuing action in a controversial decision early in the month.
Sydney commuters have expressed frustration at the continued disruption to trains, which was exasperated by the recent wet weather. Classens said that while the stoppage is going ahead in the early hours of the morning, commuters can expect a potential “small impact” on services running before and after the strike.
