A total shutdown of Sydney’s rail network has been averted, with the government giving into union demands to run 24-hour services over the weekend. It means trains will operate as scheduled tomorrow and on Saturday, but the peace deal could be short-lived.
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00:00It was a last minute reprieve, but for commuters, it was a case of better late than never.
00:07It's really exciting because now I can finally get into work tomorrow. I was going to have
00:11to work from home, but now it's good news.
00:13It's unfortunate, but it is amazing that this has worked and it's forced the hand of both
00:17parties to come to the table.
00:19I was going to Uber, but that was going to get costly.
00:22After hours of negotiations with the union, the Premier announced a deal had been done
00:26to keep train services on track.
00:29Commuters that need to use the rail network tomorrow and over the weekend can use it.
00:33That's good news for commuters in New South Wales.
00:36The government gave in to a union demand to run 24-hour services tonight, tomorrow and
00:41on Saturday, but only this week.
00:44In return, the unions agreed to provide two weeks of relative industrial peace, while
00:49the parties tried to thrash out a deal on the issues at the heart of this dispute, pay
00:53and conditions.
00:55Today we're very happy with the Premier's intervention. He was very conciliatory and
00:59we ended up coming to a position that we think everyone can live with.
01:02The Premier has egg all over his face. He's shown no interest in this dispute for the
01:06last six months. He says intensive negotiations would now begin. They should have began six
01:11months ago. Instead, we've got a Premier who's only interested in the last 24 hours, when
01:15the opposition and the media shame him into action.
01:18The government's been offering rail staff a pay rise of 11 per cent over three years.
01:23Their union wants 32 per cent over four.
01:27Premier, train drivers are already on an average $120,000 a year.
01:33I think it's a bit rich for the member for Miranda to say to someone who's on half her
01:36salary they're getting paid too much money.
01:39Commuters now have two weeks of much-needed certainty, but there's no guarantee the rail
01:44network won't come grinding to a halt in a fortnight.