V/Line said on Wednesday it had "not been not been formally advised of the protected action and what this means for potential disruptions on our services". Melbourne's trains and trams will stop for four hours next Friday. Promised "free travel days" will also happen on trains on Wednesday and Friday. On those days, all myki barriers will be left open, mykis will not be checked and authorised officers will refuse to issue infringement notices. However on trams mykis will be checked and infringements notices issued as usual. Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan labelled the strike action "provocative and unnecessary".

"It only really punishes passengers," Ms Allan said. The union was unrepentant. "Yes there certainly are a lot of people who travel in that time and we apologise in advance, however our job as a union is to get the best possible outcome that we can for our members," the Rail, Tram and Bus Union's Victorian branch secretary, Luba Grigorovitch, said. The full executive of the union made its decision two days after Metro staff voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action and one day after Yarra Trams staff did the same. Ms Grigorovitch said there was still a chance the shutdown could be avoided if Metro and Yarra Trams agreed to demands for a better deal on wages and conditions.

"Further meetings are scheduled with Yarra Trams and Metro Trains over coming days and we will continue to negotiate in good faith," she said. "We would prefer to avoid industrial action if an agreement can be reached before next Friday." Unless agreement can be reached, it will be the first public transport strike in Melbourne in 18 years. Phil Altieri, tram division secretary, said the union and Yarra Trams were "a long way apart". "I've got to say we've made some ground over the past week or so but we're still miles apart. The offer is 9 per cent over three years and that's not anywhere near where we need to be," he said. Mr Altieri denied claims by Yarra Trams that a tram driver's average wage was more than $91,000 a year, saying it was possible to earn that much by driving six days a week, including both days of the weekend, but most drivers earned about $70,000 annually.

The potential for further industrial action continues while the union remains in dispute over two separate enterprise bargaining agreements that expired on June 30. Staff at Metro and Yarra Trams have approved 50 forms of industrial action that would disrupt the public transport system, although many are minor and would not directly impact the public. These include bans on wearing uniforms, making "good service" announcements, and even refusing to take home hand-held myki readers and EFTPOS machines for recharging. Some actions would even benefit the public, such as bans on station skipping and short shunting, unless for safety reasons. Metro has already warned the union it may take matters into its own hands and implement a full or partial network shut down, if some of the actions are pursued.

These include a refusal by union members to bring into service a train with a defective passenger emergency intercom or operate a train without first ensuring both headlights are operational. The impending strikes are a major challenge for the Andrews government, which is keen to avoid being painted as letting unions run Victoria. It is understood that the government has been putting some pressure on the union to avoid work stoppages, but is less worried about free travel days. Metro and the RTBU are due to meet again on Thursday, following a government brokered meeting on Tuesday that produced no important breakthrough. Metro said it was still hopeful of resolving the dispute and avoiding next Friday's threatened shut down.





