Wage war pushes train schedules to brink as transport unions gang up on Queensland Rail
Commuters in Queensland could soon face significant delays after rail maintenance workers were told not to come to work if they wanted to strike.
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union and Queensland Rail were urgently called into mediation with the Fair Work Commission on Thursday to end a pay deal rejected by the unions weeks ago.
The union, which has been on strike for two months, accused Queensland Rail of proposing a “carbon copy” operating agreement last month, leading to ongoing industrial action.
Trains in Queensland officially started running on a shortened schedule on Tuesday.
In an announcement on the Queensland Rail website, the state’s train operator said “weekday services will operate on a modified schedule similar to the Saturday timetable, with extra services during morning and afternoon peak periods to support weekday customers.”
Around 273 train services have been deleted from the schedule and some major train stations will experience train delays of up to 30 minutes during peak hours.
At a press conference on Monday, RTBU general secretary Peter Allen accused Queensland Rail of “exacerbating” the situation and turning “low-level” strike action into an issue that would directly impact commuters as it chose not to allow any workers hoping to take part in industrial action to return to work.
“I can’t imagine anyone in their right mind would think that shutting down the network would be a good way to get people around the network,” Mr. Allen said.
“We have said repeatedly that our action will be minimal. We do not live in a perfect world where we can take industrial action on a public network that somehow puts pressure on the government and has absolutely no impact.”
“We’re trying to minimize the impact here, whereas Queensland Railways and the government have clearly said ‘Don’t come to work if that’s what you’re going to do’ and they’re taking that network down.”
“They would be there, get the fleet ready to go, clean the fleet and things like that… but if you’re not going to get paid and the employers say go home, you don’t have a choice. People go home.”
Last week Queensland Railways head of corporate affairs Nev Conway said 20 per cent of the state’s train fleet – 41 trains – was inoperable due to a range of mechanical faults and maintenance issues.
