Sydney rail strike still set to go ahead despite talks

A PLANNED 24-hour strike across Sydney’s rain network will go ahead after talks between transport bosses and unions went nowhere.

A PLANNED 24-hour Sydney train strike is still going ahead despite promising negotiations between unions and rail management.

More than 9000 train workers are due to strike on Monday, January 29, as their union pushes for a six per cent pay rise over four years. The government is holding firm on a 2.5 per cent increase.

Talks between Sydney Trains management and workers’ groups — spearheaded by Unions NSW — restarted on Thursday, two days after the strike was announced. Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey said the negotiations were the most positive they had been in several months but the two sides fell short in several key areas, meaning the planned strike was still scheduled to go ahead. “They were constructive,” Mr Morey told AAP.

Sydney’s first rail strike this century is still ste to go ahead.

“We probably had the most movement we’ve had in a couple of months today, so everyone is working hard to get it resolved.” Issues including rostering and pay will be part of a “whole package” to be discussed in coming days before any decisions are made, according to the Rail Tram and Bus Union’s NSW secretary Alex Claassens.

Mr Claasens described the three hour talks with rail management as “constructive”.

“There has been a shift in their position, absolutely,” he told reporters. “Obviously the ministers had a conversation with them and said, ‘Look bring your real game to the table today’, and I think they did that.” On Wednesday, opposition leader Luke Foley called on NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian to sideline her transport minister.

“I’m not a fan of a strike, I want to see that strike called off but what that will take is the intervention of the premier,” Mr Foley told reporters. “There’s plenty of middle ground here but a belligerent transport minister has inflamed rather than resolved the situation.” The strike plan follows a horror week for Sydney’s rail network, which left thousands of commuters stranded in peak hour last Tuesday.