Avert strike

AS A certain US tennis great, whose commentary at the Australian Open we are currently relishing, once said: “You cannot be serious.” The key issue dividing the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) and the NSW government is pay. The average Sydney train driver earns $113 000. A guard makes about $100 000.

RTBU boss Alex Claassens argues the new fouryear enterprise agreement should include annual pay hikes of 6 percent. Transport Minister Andrew Constance won’t move above 2.5 percent, which is the government’s public sector pay cap.

It is hard to see why an exception should be made for drivers and guards on six-figure packages, but not for teachers or nurses. Moreover, the government’s pay cap is enshrined in legislation, a measure that followed years of public sector pay increases in NSW outstripping the private sector, as well as the public sector in other states.

The threat of an all-in strike on January 29 reflects an industrial culture in NSW public transport that is locked in the previous century – or possibly the one before that. The RTBU encompasses no fewer than seven individual unions representing the 9 500 staff on our train network. Fewer than half of those voted in favour of a strike.

This is not Thomas the Tank Engine. The damage of a strike goes beyond the immense inconvenience and loss of productivity. How many sick and elderly folk rely on the trains to get to their medical appointments?

The real challenge for the union will come next year, with the opening of the first section of Metro Northwest. The line will be privately operated and driverless.

Should the service be reliable, pleasant and customer-focused, commuters will draw conclusions. Crippling industrial action is no way for the RTBU to build a store of goodwill ahead of that challenge.

The strike must be averted – through mature, reasonable and tireless discussion between the parties.