Metro 改革受阻，尽显工会强势霸道

政府上周因工会放弃铁路改革的新闻对所有乘客而言无疑是一个晴天霹雳。 维州工党政府在工会的大力反对下，现已介入并强迫铁路公司 Metro 放弃一连串有关改良铁路系统的改革计画。于此同时，铁路公司也受迫接受工会要求让火车驾驶四年内加薪 17%，总年薪 12万澳币 (不含加班费) 的协议。

铁路公司 Metro 原期望让维州铁路系统和世界上其它重要的铁路系统一样，皆採用铁路线独立运行制。 独立运行可减少火车行驶时因问题而造成中断的干扰，此举除了可降低更改轨道或信号时培训新司机所需付出的成本外，更可提升火车效率。

在新的改革中， Metro 还希望可允许维修人员对火车进出维修棚进行操作，这可省去维修保养过程中让专业驾驶在火车上乾等的漫长过程。
然则这一切万众期待的改革现已被强迫放弃，这代表即使旅客和纳税人受迫支付火车驾驶大幅度加薪的高昂成本后却仍得不到任何服务品质改良的回报。

英文版 – English Version

Metro forced to abandon rail reforms

There was bad news for train commuters last week. The State Labor government has forced Metro to abandon most of its planned reforms to improve Melbourne’s the rail system, because the reforms were opposed by the train drivers union. 

Metro has also been forced to agree to drivers receiving a massive 17% pay rise over the next four years, with salaries of $120,000 plus overtime. 

Metro wanted reforms so each train line would run independently of other lines, like most major rail systems around the world. This would minimise the effects of disruption, and make it easier to re-train drivers when changes are made to the track or signals. 

Metro also wanted to allow maintenance staff to drive trains in and out of maintenance sheds, instead of having fully trained drivers sitting around waiting until trains are ready to move. 

However, these reforms have now been abandoned. This means that train travellers and taxpayers will have to pay for big pay rises for train drivers, but the drivers will provide almost no improvements in services.