Train strike threat for Showdown
Adelaide train drivers say they’ll walk off the job for 24 hours on May 2 and wipe out services for that evening’s Showdown at Adelaide Oval, while industrial action will also hit Footy Express services for tonight’s Crows v Essendon game.
A planned strike would impact passengers looking to get to Adelaide Oval for the Showdown on 2 May. Photos: Tony Lewis/InDaily, Michael Errey/InDaily. Design: Mikaela Balacco/InDaily.
The Rail Train and Bus Union said drivers would hold a 24-hour strike from 4.30am on Thursday, May 2, as it escalates a pay dispute with private operator Keolis Downer.
The union is demanding a 20 per cent pay rise over four years, while the operator has offered 14.7 per cent.
Passenger trains were on a standstill on Wednesday afternoon – the third time in a week.
Footy Express services will also be impacted for tonights Crows v Essendon game at Adelaide oval, with Adelaide Metro saying trains will run to the standard Friday timetable.
Footy fans are advised to find alternative transport where possible.
Extra buses will be put on and Adelaide Metro has recommended a number of alternative Adelaide Oval bus routes for passengers that would have otherwise caught the train.
Union SA/NT branch secretary Darren Phillips that industrial action was the “only way to force KDA back to the table”.
“Workers have not made the decision to take this action lightly,” he said.
“They are extremely frustrated that negotiations have been dragging on for six months, and they still do not have an agreement on the issue of pay.
“There is another meeting planned with KDA next Friday (26 April), and we urgre KDA management to put a better offer on the table.”
Phillips said the union’s two week warning of a Showdown day strike gave Keolis Downer “ample time to change course”.
“We have also given commuters and footy fans as much time as possible to plan for alternative travel arrangements, should the action go ahead,” he said.
Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis said the ongoing strike action showed “why essential services should never ever be sold or given to anyone else to run other than the South Australian government”.
“This strike that the union is targeting on May the 2nd is designed for its maximum impact,” he told FIVEaa.
“I’m very concerned about this. I want to see Keolis and the union…to sit down together and work this out…using the public is completely unfair.”
Opposition transport spokesman Vincent Tarzia said the ongoing strike action was “getting out of hand”.
“We’ve seen commuters been thrown into chaos this week. We’ve seen that people haven’t been able to get to medical appointments and to work on time, have had plans ruined in the midst of school holidays,” Tarzia said at a press conference today.
“This is only going to get worse next week as well.
“What we’re calling for is for Peter Malinauskas and Tom Koutsantonis to put some scoreboard pressure on the union and also Keolis Downer as well. It’s simply not good enough that these commuter plans are being throw into chaos.”
Tarzia earlier this week said Keolis Downer’s contract to run Adelaide passenger trains expires next year, meaning taxpayers would later fund any pay deal agreed now.
He said it was “baffling for Peter Malinauskas and Tom Koutsantonis to wipe their hands of these important contract negotiations when 2025 is just around the corner”.
“Peter Malinauskas and Tom Koutsantonis should be intervening to ensure the best and fairest deal is reached with South Australian public transport users as the priority,” Tarzia said.
“This needs to be done as quickly as possible so we don’t have a situation where commuters are waiting at stations for trains that just aren’t coming.”
