A fraught balancing act sits at the heart of this conflict: how to ensure fairness for workers who keep society running without causing more damage to already cash-strapped governments.
Passengers wait at Chatswood station as train strikes causes chaos across Sydney’s transport network. Steven Siewert
This week, simmering tensions between essential workers and state governments erupted into chaos.
In Sydney, commuters faced mass cancellations as rail workers staged industrial action in the hopes of securing a 32 per cent pay rise over four years, reducing train speeds and refusing to do vital electrical maintenance.
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Original URL: https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/wage-wars-chaos-as-salary-demands-push-state-budgets-to-the-brink-20250115-p5l4fp