Sydney Trains: Chaos coming as rail workers refuse to work overtime
COMMUTERS can expect more train pain with rail workers across Sydney and NSW taking industrial action next week in a move the government fears will be “as bad as a strike” and spin the system into chaos.
NSW
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COMMUTERS can expect more train pain with rail workers across Sydney and NSW taking industrial action next week in a move the government fears will be “as bad as a strike” and spin the system into chaos.
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) Monday revealed its members will refuse to work overtime from Thursday next week in a dispute over their pay and work conditions.
As part of their new enterprise bargaining agreement, they want an annual pay rise of 6 per cent over four years.
With Sydney Trains currently reliant on drivers working overtime to run their new timetable, the move is expected to cause mayhem.
The union’s move follows the cancellation of almost 40 train services to ensure there wasn’t a repeat of last week’s debacle that left thousands of angry passengers stranded due to a combination of storms, trackwork, 70 drivers calling in sick and excess annual leave approvals.
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“From Thursday the 25th of January, there will be an indefinite ban on overtime work. We’ve seen in the past few days that excessive overtime is leaving workers across the network fatigued and exhausted. The ban on overtime is important in order to protect our workmates and commuters,” Mr Claassens said.
RTBU NSW Secretary Alex Claassens said they had been negotiating for more than six months and were now at breaking point. He said his members had been “burnt out” by the number of extra hours they had been forced to do.
“Our members have basically said enough is enough because we’ve been getting the blame for all this stuff, we’ve had enough, we can’t keep working overtime and keep it safe and so our members now will start that ban next Thursday morning and obviously there is plenty of room to sit and have some conversations,” he said.
Mr Claassens said Transport Minister Andrew Constance could stop the industrial action today if he came to the table with a fair deal. Union members will hand out materials about the industrial action from Friday.
But Mr Constance slammed the plans.
“I am deeply disappointed at the decision of union bosses to strike and harm Sydney Trains customers,” he said.
“Sydney Trains will immediately move to put in place contingency plans and do their best to mitigate the impact on services.
“This decision will also hit hardworking drivers and station staff in the hip pocket, reducing their take-home pay.”
Sydney Trains boss Howard Collins warned if drivers refused to work unplanned or rostered overtime the result could be fresh chaos on the rail network.
“That will have an impact on the network ... we are working on those contingency plans now,” he said.
“It would be an important challenge for us and we would have to reschedule (services).”
Meanwhile Premier Gladys Berejiklian apologised for last week’s rail chaos after returning to work from her summer holidays.
“With the benefit of hindsight we should have taken proactive action and reduced the number of services that day (Tuesday) and let customers know, so that those delays weren’t experienced,” Ms Berejiklian said.
But she insisted inconvenienced passengers would receive no refunds as there was no “precedent” for that.