There could be more pain ahead for Sydney rail commuters, with unions saying they'll stage a new round of industrial action next week.
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00:00From Wednesday the 15th of January and is scheduled to run until Friday the 17th, as
00:07for the actual strike action itself, it's going to look like trains are not going beyond
00:12certain speeds as decided by the Union rather than safety regulations.
00:16For example, for outer suburban and intercity trains, these are trains that might travel
00:21from Newcastle or Sydney or to other parts of the state, for example, they'll cap out
00:26at 80 kilometres, meaning they'll travel slower than they usually do.
00:30The Union says they expect only a kind of small to medium scale impact on people's commute
00:35as a consequence.
00:36They're also talking about the idea of limiting the amount of stops and distances particular
00:41crew members and workers travel on trains as well.
00:44What we're not likely to see though are free fares, as we have done in the past, or guards
00:48not charging people and opening the doors to allow people to come through for no charge,
00:54which obviously is a thorn in the side of the government, but a way in which the Union
00:58tries to carry public support.
00:59However, it is worth considering just what commuters are making of this entire standoff
01:04that's now gone on for weeks and weeks, in fact months and months.
01:08We spoke to a few commuters at Central Station earlier today.
01:12I think that train drivers get a good, they're on a good wicket there, on good money.
01:17I used to drive buses in Sydney for many years on Parramatta Road.
01:21That's work.
01:23I used to do a ten and a half hour shift six days a week, and the bus drivers, train drivers
01:29want to do less mileage I believe.
01:33It didn't hamper the day to day life of us, like the commuters.
01:39They should be getting paid more and everything.
01:42It was all over the New South Wales Travels app and on Google Maps and stuff like that.
01:46It was a bit, what's the word for it, inconvenient, especially towards the end of New Year's and
01:52Christmas because that's when you travel the most for work and everything.
01:55Miles, is there any hope for a deal to be struck between the unions and the government?
02:02Well the potential path forward is through one of two means.
02:05One is from both the government and the unions coming together to thrash out a deal.
02:10That has been an option for ages though, and we haven't seen any headway on it.
02:14The government remains steadfast.
02:16It wants to see a return to the Fair Work Commission.
02:19The unions on the other hand say if they go to Fair Work they want to see senior decision
02:23makers at the table because they've been displeased when they've gone to Fair Work for mediation
02:28earlier in this process, and what they say is there's essentially senior bureaucrats
02:32within the government but not senior enough to make fine decisions around particular specific
02:38parts of negotiations and to make significant enough headway.
02:42As an alternate they'd like to see either the Premier, Chris Mins, or the Transport
02:47Minister or Treasurer present at these discussions should it go to Fair Work.
02:51The alternate they've offered up is they've actually named who they believe should negotiate
02:55for the government.
02:56Samantha Abedirah who has a long history in transport both in New South Wales and more
03:00recently in Queensland.
03:01The other person is Howard Collins who's the Coordinator General in New South Wales but
03:05previously was the CEO of New South Wales Trains or Sydney Trains I should say.
03:10That is a highly unusual move for either party to name who they want to negotiate with.
03:14The government seems very reticent at the idea of engaging that proposal from the union
03:19so we'll just have to wait and see.
03:21At the moment it looks like we are heading to the strike action.
03:24Yet to hear from the New South Wales government though today about what action they may be
03:28taking to try and avert more delays and disruptions for commuters.