Words fail me.
- Flat rate 50 cent Opal fares.
Lol.
- 32% pay increase and with reduced productivity.
Lol.
- Demanding cancellation of the Bankstown extension of the Metro despite $1 Billion already having been spent and another $1.5 Billion in contracts having been signed and work starting on Saturday.
Lol.
- Refusing to work if the air temperature rises above 30 degrees.
Lol.
- All this despite an agreement already being made with the previous govt. Which they have now ignored.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/n...l/news-story/e7c8609409b4d0a5ee95ddeea4654530
Sydney train services to be disrupted as rail union negotiations fail
Train services will likely be disrupted this week, with extra trains to NRL semi-finals cancelled as the Minns government failed to come to an agreement with the rail union on Tuesday afternoon.
Rugby fans can expect a tough time getting to the NRL semi-finals in Sydney this weekend as the rail union begins rolling industrial action on Wednesday, disrupting train services.
Negotiations between the Rail, Tram and Bus Union and the Minns government failed on Tuesday afternoon, after the union’s requests were not met.
Train services will be disrupted this weekend, with the union refusing to work to any timetable changes if an agreement is not reached. This means that additional services that would have been in place to get fans to NRL semi-final matches this Friday and Saturday will likely be cancelled. Additional services to the Wallabies vs. New Zealand rugby union match at Accor Stadium will also be impacted.
The RTBU has demanded that the government set a flat rate of 50 cents for all opal fares across the city after a similar announcement from the Queensland government last week. 
The demand is part of a suite of requests made by the union including that trains continue to run on the T3 line from Sydenham to Bankstown, instead of being converted into a Metro. The RTBU has been a vocal opponent of the southwest Metro line, despite the overwhelming success of the new Sydney Metro.
The union is also requesting a 32 per cent pay rise over four years and a cut to the working week to 35 hours, without a reduction in pay.
This comes despite the industrial umpire in 2023 ruling that rail workers receive a 5.5 per cent pay rise over two years, as well as one off-payment of $4500.
The ruling ended a dispute between the rail union and the former Coalition government, which severely disrupted Sydney’s rail network in 2022.
The RTBU will begin its suite of actions from midnight to continue indefinitely.
Transport Minister Jo Haylen said negotiations would continue with the union on Wednesday.
“We are hopeful of an agreement to remove the bans currently notified by the RTBU that impact services including for special events including the multiple sporting events happening this weekend,” she said.
Transport for NSW has alerted there will be delays to passenger services resulting from industrial action but refused to comment on whether it would significantly delay work on the south west Metro line, as the T3 line between Bankstown to Sydenham is due to close next week.
As part of the action union members will not work on any changed timetable and will be banned from doing any work on the Bankstown line when the section to be converted to a Metro line shuts at the end of this month. Signals will also not be cleared on the line if it shuts.
Infrastructure workers will also refuse to perform work on the lines if the temperature is higher than 30 degrees and there will also be a ban on removing dead animals from the tracks and training new trainees for the rail operations centre.
RTBU NSW secretary Toby Warnes said the union would call off the industrial action if the Minns government agreed to provide 50 cent fares. The union intends to wedge the government on this issue as it gears up to bargain over its pay increase demands later this year.
“We’re being forced to take action because our transport system has been neglected for over a decade and unfortunately rather than fix the mess, this current government is continuing to attack our transport system and its workers just like the previous government,” Mr Warnes said.
Premier Chris Minns ruled out 50 cent fares, saying it would only pass the cost onto taxpayers.
“Someone will have to pay for it so either it will be at the farebox or it will go on people’s tax bill and obviously if we could run it for free we would but ultimately the bill has to be sent to somebody,” he said
However, they are just digging their own grave with statements like the below from an ABC article. Absolute garbage.
There could be interruptions to train services and a delay of the Sydney Metro rollout as industrial action from the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) begins on Wednesday.
www.abc.net.au
"The Metro, as a driverless train that moves very fast, is running along a corridor which is on ground level and out in the open," he said.
"[That] creates its own concerns, considering that, for example, the Metro travels under 13 bridges between Canterbury and Sydenham."
The Metro, as a driverless train that moves very fast, is running along a corridor which is on ground level and out in the open," he said.
"[That] creates its own concerns, considering that, for example, the Metro travels under 13 bridges between Canterbury and Sydenham."
There is so much wrong with this statement.
- Yes, it's a driverless train, so thankfully it isn't beholden to your stupid industrial action.
- Yes, it travels under bridges. It already does you fool.
- Yes, it travels at a ground level corridor already, you fool.
- Yes, the metro moves (lol at the choice of words) very fast. That's what it is intended to do, you fool.
- Doesn't the current Sydney trains system run along ground level and out in the open? The same system that has seen the unfortunate deaths of 5 people just this year on your own system dickhead?
But it gets worse. From that article -
"He said the union was also concerned about the curvature of the tracks between Sydenham and Bankstown.
"It was built to run very old steam trains, not 21st-century metros."
- Ahm dickhead, maybe that's why it is being updated from steam trains technology to Metro.
Seriously, can these unions get any greedier or any more stupid with their statements?
This lot need to go the same way as the CFMEU.
architectsajc.com
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