Rail workers plan more industrial action as commuters offered ‘fare free day’
Rail workers are planning to launch two weeks of industrial action from next Wednesday, after the NSW government confirmed to ABC News it would not refund train fares for the days in January when the network was disrupted by work bans.
Instead, commuters will be offered a “fare free day” after the government’s pay dispute with the rail unions is resolved.
Passengers waiting at Sydney’s Central Station last month during the combined rail unions’ action. (ABC News: Abbey Haberecht)
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) wants all NSW rail commuters to receive their money back for travel between January 13 and 17, when it claims it was “unfairly blamed for the meltdown across the network”.
The union told ABC News it would start a fresh round of ‘go slow’ action between February 12 and 26 if its refund demands were not met.
Under the new action plan, trains will travel 23 kilometres per hour under the speed limit in zones of 80kph or above.
The unions temporarily called off industrial action last month after meeting with the NSW government at the Fair Work Commission, in a bid to resolve a months-long pay dispute.
A NSW government spokesperson told ABC News that the RTBU had made “binding undertakings to the Fair Work Commission relating to industrial action”.
“As a result, these proposed restrictions are expected to be of minor disruption to the travelling public.
“But we’ll keep a close eye on the action to ensure the union abides by those undertakings.”
‘A threat and an opportunity’
The fresh threat of industrial action coincides with the departure of transport minister Jo Haylen, which the RTBU has described as “both a threat and an opportunity”.
Ms Haylen resigned from cabinet on Tuesday after it was revealed she had used her ministerial car for a long lunch to a winery in the Hunter Valley and other personal trips.
“In the midst of an ugly and tense bargaining dispute, the departure of the Transport Minister presents both a threat and an opportunity,” the RTBU wrote in an update to members.
The RTBU described a new transport minister as both a threat and opportunity for the union and its members. (AAP: Mick Tsikas)
“A threat in that we don’t know how a new Transport Minister will behave toward us and an opportunity if the government wants to clear its dirty laundry and give them a fresh start.”
The RTBU’s action will coincide with new action by the Electrical Trades Union, in which Sydney Trains workers would conduct “rolling work stoppages” throughout the day between 8am and 4pm on February 12.
A spokesperson told the ABC News the ETU action was designed “not to have any impact on trains or commuters”.
The NSW government has been locked in a pay dispute with the seven different unions representing 13,000 Sydney Trains employees for eight months.
