SWAN Hill commuters will be the first to be hit by industrial action from V/Line staff, with a 24-hour stoppage on all train services next Wednesday.
The industrial action, announced late last week by the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU), will see V/Line employees stop work on various lines during nine days in summer.
Strikes will vary from six minutes to all-day cancellation of services, with overtime bans also in place, and will be held in response to an ongoing pay dispute.
Up to 600 V/Line drivers, station staff and train controllers are expected to take part in an effort to pursue a six per cent pay rise over three years.
The regional rail operator, which is owned by the state government, is understood to be pushing a two per cent pay rise.
Negotiations have been ongoing since the start of the year.
The action is set to start on December 11, with no train services to run on the Swan Hill and Bendigo lines on that day, with action coming to an end on December 20.
V/Line chief executive officer James Pinder said efforts to organise replacement services were underway.
“We are in the process of working on a coach-replacement service plan for each line on the days of protected industrial action over the coming weeks,” Mr Pinder said.
“We want to give passengers as much notice as possible so we will communicate the changes to services as soon as we can through the V/Line website, app and social media.
“The union’s decision to disrupt tens of thousands of passengers in the lead up to the holiday season is extremely disappointing and certainly something V/Line wanted to avoid.
“We’re calling on the RTBU to come back to the negotiating table to progress these discussions in good faith so together we can work on a way forward.”
Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh said the strike was a result of the government’s “industrial chaos”, and regional passengers were now “wearing the cost” of the ongoing pay dispute with the union.
“Country people already have no confidence the trains will run on time, but that’s set to get worse over Christmas and force delays that will mean we’ll spend less time with family and friends,” Mr Walsh said.
“The cancellations come as a new timetable comes into effect this month that will see more than 270 VLine services permanently slowed down, instead of fixing the trains.”
A spokesperson from Minister for Public Transport Melissa Horne’s office said negotiations were expected to continue “in good faith”.
“There is still time for the RTBU and V/Line to resolve this without impacting regional Victorians who rely on these services to get them where they need to go,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson also hit out at the suggestion the new timetable would slow services in favour of maintaining them.
“The facts are we’ve never had as many trains on the network as we do now, and we continue to roll out even more services to get Victorians where they need to go,” the spokesperson said.
“We invested an extra $41 million last financial year for V/Line operations – allowing it to continue running a record number of train and coach services across Victoria.”
Breakout:
Scheduled strikes:
No train services on the Bendigo and Swan Hill lines all day on Wednesday, December 11
No train services on the Ararat, Maryborough and Ballarat lines all day on Thursday, December 12
Six-minute stop work beginning at the departure time of each service from Southern Cross Station on December 16.
No train services on the Traralgon and Bairnsdale lines all day on Tuesday, December 17
No train services on the Albury, Shepparton and Seymour lines all day on Wednesday, December 18
No train services on the Warrnambool and Geelong lines all day on Thursday, December 19
