Full rail services to return this month as deal struck, backlog cleared
Full rail services are due to return to south-east Queensland from the middle of this month, the state government says, as a maintenance backlog comes to an end after industrial action.
Train timetables across the region have been disrupted for most of this year as unions negotiated a multimillion-dollar wage deal.
Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg said on Monday morning that members from five of the seven unions involved had voted to accept the deal.
Voting within the Electrical Trades Union is yet to close.
Train controllers narrowly voted down the deal, but the government said it believed their concerns could be addressed.
RTBU branch secretary Peter Allen said members feared a clause could require them to work longer hours at a control panel.
“We warned them that their proposal to force our members to spend more time at the control panel, and less time managing their fatigue would likely see this agreement rejected,” he said.
“QR should work with us immediately to reach a deal that our members can accept.”
Mickelberg confirmed full rail services were due to resume on November 16.
There would be 8503 services each week, with trains every six to eight minutes during peak periods.
Services would run every 15 to 30 minutes during off-peak times, depending on the line.
Updated timetables will be available on the Translink website from Wednesday.
“I want to acknowledge again the frustration,” the minister told reporters outside Central Station in Brisbane.
“I’m acutely aware of the challenges commuters have experienced with the reduced timetable.”
Under the deal struck with the unions, workers would receive a 10.5 per cent wage increase over three years, costing the government about $300 million.
“It’s a fair offer,” Mickelberg added. “We want to see our workforce well paid and productive, but we also want to make sure that we respect taxpayers’ money.”
He said the government had unsuccessfully pushed for the federal minister to intervene in earlier protected action.
He said while Queensland Rail was governed by the federal Fair Work system, disruptions to commuters represented the type of impact that might lead a minister to step in under new proposed legislation at the state level.
“Certainly, the types of issues that we’re dealing with here are the exact reason that those provisions are needed,” he said.
The agreements with the unions will expire in three years.
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