By Robert Houghton
ADELAIDE — The Public Transport Union (PTU) held a 24-hour combined bus, tram and train strike here on March 20. The action followed minister for transport Diana Laidlaw's refusal to discuss the impact of competitive tendering on workers' wages and conditions.
In the first round of tendering, the Liberal state government targeted the working class areas to the north and south of Adelaide. TransAdelaide, the public sector provider, was awarded the Lonsdale depot in the south. In the outer north, the contract for the Elizabeth depot was awarded to defence industry service contractor SERCO.
Workers at Elizabeth were offered voluntary redundancy or a transfer to SERCO under wages and conditions significantly lower than the public sector award. For bus drivers, the shift represented an increase from a 38 to a 40-hour week, and for many, a pay cut of around $150 per week. This enabled SERCO to promise the state government savings of $3 million per year.
Around 500 members of the PTU attended a mass meeting on the day of the strike. They voted to continue industrial action in the form of rolling stoppages and the non-collection of fares, and demanded that the wage rates and conditions of the public transport award be maintained in the tendering process.