The ongoing salary, conditions, and safety negotiations are expected to cause significant delays for commuters in NSW.
On Wednesday, the NSW government and the Rail, Tram and Bus Union are scheduled to meet to discuss the purchase of a new fleet of intercity trains made in Korea.
The NSW government is now engaged in tense negotiations as it prepares for a teachers’ strike on Thursday and faces increased pressure from public sector nurses and midwives over compensation and staffing ratios.
Blockade Climate activists from Australia are taking a vacation for at least 24 hours after spending the previous two days protesting in Sydney’s central business district and leading to numerous arrests.
Tuesday marked the start of four days of industrial action by rail workers that included limiting train speeds to 60 km/h, limiting worker travel, and prohibiting the usage of trains produced abroad.
Transport for NSW has issued a warning that services on Thursday may be reduced by 70% during rush hours, and passengers should prepare for delays, changed stopping patterns, and cancelled trains.
The Waratah, Millennium, and OSCAR trains, which make up around 70% of the fleet, will no longer be in service on Friday due to a union restriction on foreign-owned trains.
Additionally, passengers should prepare for considerable delays on Sydney and NSW train routes, including a reduction in services on Thursday and Friday to the Central Coast, Newcastle, Hunter, Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands, and South Coast.
Rush-hour traffic came to a complete stop on Monday and Tuesday as extreme climate change activists from Blockade Australia descended upon the city, adding insult to injury.
After 21 people were detained earlier this week, the group will cease their disturbances on Wednesday for a full 24 hours so that protesters can “relax and regroup.”
At a press conference on Monday afternoon, Sally-Anne Brown, a spokeswoman for the radical organization, stated that they will continue to demonstrate until “profiteering of the systems that are harming our environment” is entirely destroyed.
The network has promoted a week of protests, but that’s all I know, Ms. Brown replied when asked what she had planned for the rest of the week.
There would be no protests on Wednesday, according to a message released by Blockade Australia organizers on Tuesday.
They announced it on the Blockade Australia: Resist Climate Inaction channel of the Telegram messaging app, saying, “We have made the request for tomorrow to be a day off.”
“We want individuals to have an opportunity to rest, recoup, and encourage one another as well as interact with those who share our shared objective of avoiding climate change,” the group says.
The NSW Police cautioned on Tuesday that they are prepared to take action against protestors who “believe the law does not apply to them” after making 21 arrests in the previous two days.
On Tuesday, during the second day of unauthorized protests, eleven people were detained as roughly 40 protesters marched from Sydney’s Hyde Park up William Street toward the inner east.
After roughly 50 individuals participated in a Blockade Australia march through the CBD on Monday, police detained 10 people.
Among them was Mali Poppy Cooper, 22, who blocked entry to the Sydney Harbour Tunnel by latching herself to the steering wheel of a vehicle.
A furious commuter allegedly started to verbally insult her with a litany of expletives while she was live-streaming the demonstration from inside a white rental hatchback before storming off.
He screams, “You’re ruining everyone’s day.” Get the f*** out of my way, please!
Tuesday’s strike action, according to Premier Dominic Perrottet, was disappointing because the NSW government had been advised by the federal agency in charge of rail safety that the new intercity trains were secure.
A government promise to pay employees up to $18,000 to operate the fleet before safety upgrades are made provoked the most recent controversy.
The NSW secretary of the rail union, Alex Claassens, referred to the offer as a bribe and charged the government with engaging in political games.
On Thursday, a separate negotiation session is set between representatives of the NSW transport department and the train union.
In the meantime, hundreds of nurses decided to keep up their strike on Tuesday, rejecting the government’s offer of a 3% salary increase.
According to Brett Holmes, general secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association, members will now pursue a salary increase of 7%.
The premier defended the public sector’s offer of 3% in wages and a $3,000 bonus to health workers, claiming that any further industrial action was politically motivated.
Ahead of a historic joint 24-hour strike on Thursday, two unions that represent teachers in public and private schools are also scheduled to speak to the media on Wednesday.
After learning that no offer higher than 3.5% was on the table from Tuesday’s budget papers, the NSW Teachers Federation and Independent Education Union NSW/ACT declared a strike.
The protests are slated to occur in 14 municipalities throughout the state as well as in the CBD, where unions are anticipated to demand better pay rates and working conditions.
According to Mr. Perrottet, unions who organize unlawful strikes should face severe sanctions.
For the first day of illegal industrial action, the government proposes to levy a maximum fine of $55,000, followed by $27,500 for each additional day.