Residents in New South Wales are bracing for a series of interruptions as unions plan to strike throughout the week as part of ongoing industrial disputes with the state government over pay and conditions. We’ve taken a look at why this is happening now, what it means for you, what the demands are and if they’re likely to be met.
So, what’s happening this week?
Lots – if everything goes ahead as planned. There will be industrial action taken by rail workers, nurses and midwives and teachers from public and Catholic schools. Each group has raised slightly different issues, and will be protesting or taking industrial action in a variety of ways.
There will be a lot of press conferences about what’s happening and likely a lot of meetings between union and government officials as all sides push for their desired outcomes.
Environmental activism group Blockade Australia has also been out and about, and plans to do more this week, after 10 members were arrested on Monday during a protest. This is unrelated to the unions’ industrial action, but may end up causing more commuter pain.
But why are we seeing these actions this week and all at the same time?
Throughout the year, essential workers across sectors have been advocating for more money and better conditions. They have taken industrial action and gone out on strike at different points.
The public sector wage cap of 2.5% was a major sticking point, especially as inflation began to rise. The state government had encouraged workers to wait until the budget, promising there would be answers and compromise there.
The treasurer, Matt Kean, handed down the budget last week and officially unveiled a lifting in the public sector wage cap, by 0.5% to 3%. Unions were not happy. They met over the past week to discuss next steps and many voted to take more actions – which is what we are seeing now.
What do rail workers want, what are they doing and how does it affect me?
The rail union has planned four days of industrial action this week and some of it is likely to affect commuters. Actions kick off on Tuesday with a go-slow, meaning train drivers will limit their speeds to 60km/h and under.
The action will escalate on Friday when drivers will refuse to drive foreign-built trains, warning it may repeat the action next week if there was no movement from the government before then.
The union plans to repeat a ban on operating foreign-built trains, which make up 75% of the state’s passenger fleet, on Wednesday and Friday next week.
The cessation of those trains would reduce services to about 30% of usual capacity, according to Rail, Tram and Bus Union NSW head Alex Claassens, who has repeatedly raised concerns over the safety of a new fleet of Korean-built trains.
Speaking on commercial radio on Monday morning, the transport minister, David Elliott, said he had was “open-minded about the modifications” being called for by the union “so long as it doesn’t cost taxpayers unnecessarily.
“At a time when the NSW economy is facing headwinds … to unnecessarily spend money on modifying or making all the modifications that the union’s asked for I think would be irresponsible,” he said.
The government on Friday made an offer to the RTBU, but the union described it as a “bribe” to get them to back down on the intercity fleet that they claim is dangerous.
“This has always been about safety for us,” Claassens said.
“The government is essentially trying to bribe workers into operating a train that we know is not safe for commuters or workers.”
The actions taken by the union will probably mean delays across some services in some parts of the state over the next four days, unless the government budges.
What about healthcare workers?
Nurses and midwives will take action this week with a planned walk-off for between one and 24 hours on Tuesday. It will be the second time they have gone on strike in recent months.
A mass meeting will be held in Sydney’s CBD from 2pm Tuesday and members from around the state will be able to dial-in to the meeting.
“The government has ignored the need to address the extra extreme workloads nurses and midwives are juggling,” union leader Shaye Candish said.
Action is planned to take place after the meeting, despite the Department of Health filing a dispute in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission to prevent branches who voted for a stop work to attend. Orders were made against the union on Saturday against the stop-work actions – but not against the meeting.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association is calling for a pay rise beyond the offered 3%, as well as improving staff-to-patient ratios.
Ahead of the budget, the government pledged $4.5bn to boost the healthcare workforce including a goal to hire more than 7,500 workers over the next 12 months. Experts have questioned whether this is possible and the union has urged the government to support the workforce they already have.
Participating union branches are working to ensure life-preserving patient care will be maintained in all public hospitals and health services.
Paramedics have also been engaged in ongoing industrial action amid similar calls for better pay and conditions, amid concerns over ambulance ramping.
What do teachers and other education workers want?
On the day the budget was handed down, public and Catholic school teacher unions voted to strike for 24 hours this Thursday, arguing the 3% pay increase represented a real-world pay cut.
Teachers have also been struggling amid severe staff shortages and have already gone on strike earlier in the year.
NSW Teachers Federation president Angelo Gavrielatos said: “Children across NSW [are] missing out every single day because of the teacher shortages.”
Over the weekend the education minister, Sarah Mitchell, told Sky she believed the protests were politically motivated because teachers were not striking in Victoria.
“This is definitely politically motived but I’m just frustrated on behalf of parents, it’s really disruptive when your children can’t go to school,” she said.
“It’s the last day of the financial year which will be hard for a lot of people who run their own business.”
The NSW government has publicly stated it was committed to reducing the amount of administration tasks teaching staff are required to do.
What does Blockade Australia have to do with this?
Well, not a lot – other than timing. The group has also planned a series of disruptive protests in the city throughout the week.
Ten of their members were arrested during actions on Monday morning. About 50 protesters had marched through the CBD before being blocked by police from making their way on to the Harbour Bridge – their original target.
“Disruption to the infrastructure of Australia’s project of exploitation is essential in cutting through the climate denial that this system survives off,” a statement from the group read.
Acting assistant commissioner Paul Dunstan said those involved will be charged under recently passed laws designed to crack down on illegal protesters who would face up to two years behind bars or $22,000 in fines.
