Sydney's entire rail network will shut down from Friday until early Sunday morning. The union has agreed to delay the industrial action due to a Pearl Jam concert at Olympic Park on tomorrow night. Drivers voted to strike after a breakdown in negotiations between the union and the state government over a new pay deal and 24-hour services.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00The NSW Government says it doesn't see an imminent breakthrough on the horizon, but
00:06talks are continuing this afternoon, including the personal involvement of the Premier, Chris
00:12Minns.
00:13There was some good news overnight.
00:15The Union and the Government held talks and the Government has now confirmed that this
00:19potential shutdown won't take effect until Friday, meaning that tens of thousands of
00:24people can at least still get out to Olympic Park on Thursday night for a Pearl Jam concert.
00:30As it stands, commuters in Sydney are facing two full days without rail services.
00:35All of this is because the Government is refusing really to yield to Union demands to run 24-hour
00:42services on the rail network on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
00:46It happened last weekend, but the Government says it can't go on forever and Sydney Train
00:51says it really needs that time, that downtime, to perform essential maintenance.
00:55And because they are still at loggerheads, the RTBU will direct its members to stop
01:00work altogether on those days.
01:02Our members want to work, they are ready and willing to work, and all it would take is
01:09a couple of extra services between 1am and 4am in the morning on Thursday, Friday and
01:16Saturday nights and we would have services running all weekend.
01:20The RTBU says 24-hour operations are good for commuters and good for the economy, but
01:25they would also be good for RTBU members because there'd be more work and more demand, especially
01:30if 24-hour operations were to continue.
01:33At the heart of all of this really, though, is pay and conditions and a long-running dispute
01:37over those issues.
01:38The RTBU wants a pay rise of 8% every year and the Government at the moment is only offering
01:4411% over three years and at the moment it's not willing to budge.
01:48So while the debate over 24-hour operations might be triggering this potential shutdown,
01:56for the most part it all comes down to pay.