Transport unions strike

By Garry Walters

MELBOURNE -- The public transport system came to a halt here on April 29 as 2000 rail, bus and tram workers attended a stop-work meeting on a 6% pay claim under the enterprise bargaining provisions of Accord Mark VI. Workers also stopped work in Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong.

The public transport workers' last pay rise was 2.5% awarded by the federal Industrial Relations Commission in May 1991.

The meetings voted to demand the 6% without any trade-offs in jobs and conditions, with the first 3% payable from IRC ratification of the deal and the second 3% no more than three months later. Shop stewards were authorised to call further actions if the Public Transport Commission doesn't agree to the claim by May 4.

Union officials told the meeting it is urgent to finalise enterprise deals before the industrial relations situation deteriorates further with the likely fall of Labor governments.

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