These are the strikes that will not end. Yes, they go on and on my friends. Some people started liking it not knowing what it was. Now they’ll continue striking for forever just because these are the strikes that will not end…
Melbourne might have escaped the clutches of any more Tram Strikes happening, with the Rail, Tram, and Bus Union finally reaching an agreement with Yarra Trams late last week.
But the city’s train network is still well at odds over pay and working conditions, and has announced a week of industrial action for all of next week – which will take in Grand Final Day.
All travel on one of the city’s premiere dates is set to be free, with ticket and gate inspectors to not check tickets on Saturday, October 3rd. This will occur across the whole network, and not just at the MCG servicing stations of Richmond and Jolimont.
The strike action is also planned for Thursday and Friday as well, with a four-hour shutdown planned for Thursday, and no station-skipping on Friday.
With Friday being a public holiday (the first incarnation of Grand Final Eve), this means that Melburnians could well have an accidental 4 day weekend on their hands if they decide to treat Thursday’s strike like the last one and declare another writ of “FUCK THIS.”
The week-long action will also involve employees not wearing Metro Trains uniforms, the non-reporting of late running trains, and a complete ban on driving trains that don’t have working PA systems or headlights.
The long-running industrial action centres largely around working conditions, particularly in train maintenance depots, where engineers allegedly have to wait – sometimes for up to eight hours – for a driver to be sourced and sent to the depot via taxi, in order to move a train in the yard as little as two metres.
These are the strikes that will not end. Yes, they go on and on my friends…
Photo: Michael Dodge via Getty Images.
via Herald Sun.
