Sydney Trains Have Been Cooked All August So Here’s Why Transport Workers Are Striking

There’s a small chance that if you live in Sydney, you’ve clocked on to the ongoing train strikes. Or maybe you’re really into getting to work on roller skates! No judgement here. But for those of us who do catch the train, you’ll have noticed some pretty big disruptions because transport workers have been holding industrial action over safety concerns. I don’t know about you, but I reckon safety — for passengers and workers — seems like a pretty fucking big deal. The bulk of worker concerns are centred on the New Intercity Fleet. Amazingly no, while that sounds pretty sci-fi it’s actually not something from Star Trek. These fancy new trains were made in South Korea but they’ve been sitting in storage because of workers’ concerns. Basically, the new trains rely on CCTV monitoring. But the CCTV cameras don’t have audio, plus their line of sight would be impacted thanks to the train’s design. The reason why

per 9News Alex Claassens  told the ABC David Elliott News.com.au

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workers are worried about this is that passengers could have an undetectable accident — like falling between the train and the platform — but the lack of audio would mean train staff can’t hear them, . Now in some fun news, there’s a chance the strike could end as early next week. Negotiations between the NSW Government and the union are looking tentatively hopeful. A strike is scheduled for next Wednesday — it would see staff boycotting all foreign-made trains, which is around 70 per cent of the fleet. Tentatively hopeful negotiations, you say? Why yes. Last Wednesday the Government agreed to make changes to the fleet in a legal deed. RTBU secretary that the union could agree to the deed. “The trains they bought from South Korea as driver-only trains were never going to work on the NSW rail system,” he said. “We were always going to fight that fight.” He said the deed would have to guarantee a couple of things: that the trains would be fixed, and they wouldn’t be fixed with money taken from workers’ wages and conditions. A very fair request IMO. NSW Transport Minister  said on Friday that the RTBU “[appears] to be close to a resolution, but there are one or two outstanding matters that need to be determined”, as per . He hoped the Government and union would be able to come to an agreement next Wednesday. But Elliott also said that if negotiations broke down he’s got “some radical ideas on my mind”. Um, sir. I hope those radical ideas are simply…. listening to the workers? Somehow I doubt it though. Worst comes to worst: train strikes are a great excuse to invest in a unicycle.