After winning the right to proceed with strike action, the rail union will cut the number of trains available to commuters in NSW by roughly half.
After failed negotiations with the union on Tuesday, the NSW government attempted to halt the protected action before an interim hearing before the Fair Work Commission.
Natalie Ward, the acting minister of transportation, has issued a warning that services will be at least halved on Wednesday.
“Today, we are considering up to 50%.” She said to Sydney radio station 2GB, “Since the (commission) decision was made late in the afternoon, we’ve got to work overnight with the teams to get timetabling in place and get those additional train sets out there.
Things could happen a little later, We should be up to about 60% by the end of the week if we get those extra sets on the track, she said.
Prior to any planned strike action by the Rail, Tram and Bus Union on Friday, the Fair Work Commission will hold a second full hearing on Thursday.
The union claimed that from Wednesday to Friday, rail services would be decreased by around 30% and passengers would not be compensated for unpaid fares.
Rail employees have decided to block the NSW government from extracting money from people in the form of penalties on public transportation because of what the people of NSW are currently suffering, according to union NSW leader Alex Claassens on Tuesday.
We never want to cause passengers any inconvenience.
“This whole disagreement is about making sure commuters get the safe trains they deserve, but there is nothing we can do because of the NSW government’s continuous political gamesmanship.”
The new fleet of Korean-built trains, which rail workers claim are hazardous, are the subject of the disagreement between the government and union.
The government has given the union $264 million to remedy the safety problems, but it has chosen not to communicate this offer in writing.
This Thursday, Premier Dominic Perrottet insisted that the suggested changes weren’t essential.
However, he continued, without a settlement to the protracted disagreement, the cost of storing the fleet will “skyrocket.”