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Wage wars: Chaos as salary demands push state budgets to the brink

Wage wars: Chaos as salary demands push state budgets to the brink

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

Michael ReadEconomics correspondent

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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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Michael Read
Michael ReadEconomics correspondentMichael Read is the Financial Review's economics correspondent, reporting from the federal press gallery at Parliament House. He was previously an economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia and at UBS. Connect with Michael on Twitter. Email Michael at michael.read@afr.com

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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