Queensland commuters could soon be experiencing significant delays after rail maintenance workers were told not to turn up to work if they intended to strike.
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union and Queensland Rail have been urgently called to a mediation with the Fair Work Commission on Thursday to nut out a wage deal that was initially rejected by the unions weeks ago.
The union, which has been striking for two months, accused Queensland Rail of proposing a “carbon copy” enterprise agreement last month, sparking ongoing industrial action.
On Tuesday, trains in Queensland officially began running on a reduced timetable.
In an announcement on the Queensland Rail website, the state’s train operator said “weekday services will operate on a modified schedule, similar to a Saturday timetable, with extra services during morning and afternoon peak periods to support weekday customers”.
Nearly 273 train services have been wiped from the schedule, and some major train stations will experience train delays of up to 30 minutes during peak times.
During a media conference on Monday, RTBU state secretary Peter Allen accused Queensland Rail of “inflaming” the situation and turning “low level” strike action into an issue that would directly affect commuters because it chose not to allow any workers hoping to engage in industrial action to return to work.
“I can’t imagine who in their right mind would think that shutting the network was a good way to get people around the network,” Mr Allen said.
“We’ve said time and time again our action will be low level. We don’t live in a perfect world where we can take industrial action in a public network that somehow puts pressure on the government and has absolutely no impact
“We’re trying to minimise the impact here, whereas Queensland Rail and the government have said flat out, ‘Well, don’t come to work if this is what you’re going to do’, and they’re crashing this network.”
“They would be (at work), they would be there getting the fleet ready to run, they’d be cleaning the fleet and doing all of those sorts of things … but if you’re not going to get paid and the employers say go home, you’re left with no choice. People go home.”
Last week, Queensland Rail corporate affairs head Nev Conway said 20 per cent of the state’s train fleet – 41 trains – were inoperable due to a variety of mechanical faults and maintenance issues.
