Sydney’s rail network is expected to stop running on Friday, disrupting millions of people and major events as the transport union strikes.
Trains were originally meant to stop on Thursday, the same night as a Pearl Jam concert at Sydney Olympic Park.
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Other major events this weekend include Pearl Jam’s second show on Saturday and all A-League teams joining Sydney’s UNITE Round.
The shutdown follows months of negotiations between the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) and the NSW Government over an agreement for workers continuing.
The RTBU plans to strike from Friday to Sunday morning. This is after the union and Sydney Trains failed to reach an agreement on the union’s demands for a 24-hour train service.
The union also asked for a 32 per cent pay rise over 4 years. The government offered 9.5 per cent over three years, but this was rejected.
RTBU NSW secretary Toby Warnes said, “All we’re doing is calling on the government to come back to the negotiating table and get this deal done.”
“We’ve seen the transport minister come out three times in the last 24 hours, which is more times than the NSW government has negotiated with us”.
Transport Minister Jo Haylen apologised to Sydney commuters for the disruption on the Today show.
“Nobody wants this. I don’t want this. The government doesn’t want this, the passengers certainly don’t want this. But the only way to keep our city moving is for the union to lift its industrial bans,” she said.
A NSW transport spokesperson said the shutdown will repeat every week until a resolution is reached.
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