00:01Well, it's now been over a month since the unions began taking industrial action, which
00:07has been, as you say, disrupting services and this week leading to the Saturday timetable
00:12being implemented, causing a bit of congestion for commuters.
00:16Now the government and Queensland Rail are blaming the unions for the reduced services,
00:22while the unions are now claiming the government's been locking their members out of work.
00:27Today, both sides will meet in the Fair Work Commission in the hopes of coming to a resolution.
00:33We've heard from both sides this morning and both say they're entering in good faith.
00:38They're hoping for some kind of resolution this afternoon.
00:41Here's a little bit of what the RTBU's Peter Allen had to say earlier this morning.
00:47We don't have to wait long now.
00:48We're going upstairs very shortly at the direction of the Commission, hopefully to engage in some
00:53good faith bargaining.
00:55Their lack of engagement in this is staggering.
00:59They're not prepared to talk to unions.
01:01First time in decades that I can remember that they haven't been prepared to talk to unions
01:06to try and resolve this.
01:08If your job is the transport minister, your job is to keep traffic, rail and everything else running.
01:14And if you don't, it's an abrogation of your responsibility.
01:17So, as you heard there, they're hoping for the good faith bargaining.
01:21But at the same time, the unions have characterised the government's pay offer of 8% over three years
01:27as a cut to real wages and they're warning that if this isn't improved and that if other
01:33improvements aren't put into that offer, there will be further strike action.
01:38And they're also warning that this could go on for several months.
01:42We've also heard that abuse towards rail workers is increasing across the network and the unions
01:49are claiming that the government needs to step in and protect its workers.
01:53So, there's a lot to work out this morning, but we'll see whether this this meeting today
01:57does lead to any kind of a resolution.
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