Yep, it’s happening again. Sydney’s rail workers are taking industrial action, meaning trains across the city will be delayed, disrupted and cancelled from today (Wednesday, January 15) onwards. If Santa got you a bicycle for Christmas, he chose well.
At a press conference yesterday, Transport Minister Jo Haylen addressed the Rail Tram and Bus Union workers with an updated offer of a 13 per cent pay rise over the next four years, an offer she describes as “a fair and reasonable offer”. Transport for NSW has also offered improved conditions for our train drivers and transport wizards, with 105 conditions addressed by the government to improve working conditions for transport workers.
And although Minister Haylen cited the desire of most transport workers to return to a standard working schedule without the strikes that have plagued us recently, the unions warned that they’d be starting a new round of industrial action to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the offer.
Yesterday’s press conference also saw NSW Secretary Josh Murray explain the government’s intention to “give certainty to the travelling public” by calling on the unions to hold off industrial action this week, but the call to continue operating as usual was refused by the union (hence your very slow, very sweaty journey into the office this morning).
According to Transport for NSW, the new round of industrial action will see service reductions and cancellations on the rail network across the city. They announced that they’ll introduce additional bus services to support impacted train services – and yes, the Sydney Metro is still running – but considering the train system is estimated to move more than one million Sydneysiders every day, we can expect the remaining transport network to be pretty stretched.
Here’s hoping an agreement is met soon so we can get back to regular programming. In the meantime, keep your eyes on Trip Planner for updates, allow extra time when you travel and consider different transport options when possible.
You can learn more about the RTBU's current industrial action via their website, and you can stay up to date and plan your trip over here.
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