Victorians to pay the bill for Labor’s rail union deal
No wonder the rail union is thanking Transport Minister, Jacinta Allan, for helping to extract a huge 17% pay rise over four years from Yarra Trams. Increases of 4¼% a year are pretty good when inflation is running at 1.5%, not to mention the other “extras” thrown in.
As they say, it’s easy to be generous with other people’s money. In this case, it’s Yarra Trams that picks up the tab to start with.
However, Victorian commuters and/or taxpayers will end up paying down the track through higher fares or higher subsidies to rail operators.
Even worse, this massive pay rise will be used by public sector unions to demand similar pay rises for their members, just as with the paramedics deal. Labor’s budget has only funded departments for pay rises of 2½% a year, so anything above that, without productivity savings, has to be paid for somewhere.
Workers are entitled to fair and reasonable pay rises for the work they do, but if Labor gives in to huge wage demands due to political pressure, Victorians will pay the price through cuts to services or infrastructure, higher taxes, or higher debt and interest bills.
For more, see The Age’s report Tram strikes cancelled as workers reach agreement with Yarra Trams.