New South Wales bus and train strikes continue this week

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Industrial activity, starting last week and continuing this week, will impact Sydney’s bus and New South Wales (NSW) train services.

The Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) and the Rail, Tram and Bus Coalition (RTBU) have notified the Transit System that members will join the strike.

Bus services in Sydney’s Inner West and southwestern suburbs will be affected, and intercity services on the Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink will be affected.

Sydney Inner West bus drivers will be suspended from 12:01 am Monday to 12:01 am Tuesday, and drivers in southwest Sydney will be suspended from 12:01 am Tuesday to 12:01 am Wednesday. Strike up to minutes.

according to TWUThe bus strike occurs after the driver’s call for “same work, same wages” has not been answered by Transit Systems and the Government of New South Wales.

The driver also turned off the opal card reader for three days last week. The transit system has attempted to dock hundreds of dollars from payments.

Richard Olsen, secretary of TWUNSW in New South Wales, said drivers had little choice but to strike because the equal pay for equal work was ignored.

“What bus drivers want is a simple guarantee that if you drive a public bus in Sydney, you’ll be paid just like anyone else doing the same job,” he said.

He added that the privatization of Sydney’s buses by the state government caused this turmoil and could change considerably, even though driver wages and conditions do exactly the same job.

“We are calling on Transit Systems and the state government to stop playing games and come to the table to reach a fair agreement with these drivers, including the same job and the same wages,” Olsen said. rice field.

A spokesperson for the Transit System said last week that TWU misleads the general public by saying that opal card readers are turned off. In fact, 98-100% of the machines were active on most networks and all services were running on schedule. There is no confusion to customers.

Meanwhile, the Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink InterCity services are expected to be delayed on Tuesday, shortening their schedule and causing some cancellations.

The New South Wales Department of Transportation reports that on some lines outside Sydney, trains run every 30 minutes and stop at all stations, resulting in longer travel times.

Buses will replace trains on the T3 Bankstown line between Bankstown and Lidocom, but the T3 Bankstown line between Liverpool and City will continue to operate, albeit less frequently.

In addition, NSW Trainlink intercity trains will switch to weekend timetables, and buses will replace Port Kembla and Wollongong, Wollongong and Thirroul, and Wollongong and Kiama trains.

RTBU states on Tuesday that train drivers will refuse to drive foreign-made trains. This means that 75% of trains will be affected.

RTBUNSW secretary Alex Claassens said workers were left with no choice but to take industrial action as negotiations for a new business agreement were stalled.

“Workers do not have to take action, but there is no other option. Management and the government refuse to commit to basic safety, health and privatization provisions as part of the negotiations for a corporate agreement. I have. “

“We are fully aware of the impact this has on commuters, but we also know that if we do not take action, workers and commuters are at risk.”

Drivers are also committed to work during privatization, ensuring that changes to services make them safer or safer, and using publicly owned work to maintain current hygiene levels. I want a corporate contract that includes a commitment.

In response, a transit system spokesperson said he had held nine negotiation meetings so far, of which TWU attended only once and RTBU attended only four.

“We have a proposal for an enterprise contract for all employees, including regular Q & A updates twice a week, informative videos, and 60 minutes of paid time to those who watch the session. We listened and communicated extensively with our employees, including briefings, “he said.

“We look forward to continuing to work with our employees and get positive results,” he added.

Steve Milne

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