Transit construction could be halted due to rising tensions between Labor and the CTU.
A senior government source has claimed they expect the embattled union to use workplace health and safety laws to cause disruption, with the possibility of closing the Western Sydney Airport metro line, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The sources said the government is “intensifying contingency planning for a full range of scenarios” to avoid a lockdown.
This comes after allegations of misconduct within the Australian Federation of Trade Unions, with former Australian Labor Party leader and current minister Jenny McAllister defending the Albanian government’s response.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the government should deregister the union and return millions of dollars in donations the construction union made to Labor.
An independent director will be appointed to reform the Albany County Transport and Transportation Workers Union after allegations that underworld figures and outlawed motorcycle gangs have infiltrated the union, according to the Albanian government.
“It’s very difficult to get lectures from Peter Dutton on this subject,” Senator McAllister said.
“Most of the alleged behaviour that has been reported over the past week occurred during the period when the Coalition was in power and the ACCC was in operation,” she told Sky’s Sunday Agenda programme.
“The government he was part of had a lot of opportunities to deal with some of the issues that the government is dealing with now.”
In 2019, Mr. Dutton, then interior minister, said outlaw biker gangs “have teeth in the CTU.”
“I don’t know the basis of Peter Dutton’s statement at the time,” Senator McAllister said.
“But that begs the question, doesn’t it? If he knew, why didn’t he do something about it? We don’t talk about this issue, we take action on it.”
The alleged construction stoppages come as a series of light rail strikes are planned across Sydney this week, with the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) preparing to implement two-hour stoppages between 8am and 10am, and 4pm and 6pm from Monday to Friday.
The move comes after negotiations between the RTBU rail union and operator Transdev broke down, with RTBU rail union secretary David Babineau claiming that employees were supposed to receive a pay rise from Transdev, but “what they got was worse than the previous offer”.
“Workers are simply demanding the wages and conditions they deserve. It is disappointing that the company is forcing us to go back to taking industrial action and impacting passengers,” he said.
“We have tried to minimise disruption at those peak times to ensure people can safely get where they need to be outside those hours, for example late at night.
“It is clear that these large companies are not feeling the same hardship as our workers, otherwise they would not have prolonged this negotiation period.”
