Rail union coercion is bad news for Victoria

Reports that the Rail, Tram and Bus Union has agreed to drop its previous refusal to operate trains with “minor faults” in exchange for a 15 per cent pay rise sends the message that union coercion and intimidation will get results under the Rudd and Brumby governments.

As a result, Victorians can look forward to many future disruptions as other unions across Victoria use coercion and intimidation to get their way.

It is deplorable that instead of condemning the months-long campaign of disruption of our train system, the Premier has welcomed Connex’s capitulation to union intimidation.

“The willingness of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union to drop its objections to driving trains with ‘minor faults’ in exchange for a 15 per cent pay rise shows there was no justification for these bans in the first place,” Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Robert Clark said today.

“Commuters have had to endure hundreds of train cancellations for no reason other than an underhand attempt to coerce Connex into paying higher wages. A reported 35 per cent of all train cancellations over the past year have been due to these so-called ‘minor faults’.

“This has not been an open and honest strike as part of wage negotiations; it has been disruption and intimidation based on spurious safety claims.

“This union campaign against Connex has been running at the same time as Victorians are seeing increasingly violent disputes on building sites, as well as union pickets against the installation of safety barriers on the West Gate Bridge.

“It’s clear that under the Rudd and Brumby governments, the militant unions are starting to flex their muscles again.

“Labor’s claim that it has a good working relationship with the unions that will reduce strikes and disruptions has once more been proven false.

“Labor Party Ministers have no trouble making contact with their union mates when it comes to lining up factional deals and power plays, but when it comes to the public interest they have been unable or unwilling to tell those same union mates that this coercion and bloody-mindedness must stop,” Mr Clark said.