After ample warning, the Rail, Tram, and Bus Union (RTBU), made good on their warning and went ahead with protected industrial action.
The cover story (which if you accuse someone of lying they will likely sue you for libel, so it's simply better to say I do not believe) was a series of checks were deliberately not carried out; which meant that the running speed over points and various interlockers was reduced to yard speeds, which is not more than 8 km/h. The story could very well be true, and if it is true then that means that the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) has also taken protected industrial action and also withdrawn their labour.
The story about points not operating, or signals not working, or a multitude of other reasons given, is conveniently convenient because it means that the blame is spread so thinly that repercussions can not fall back on a single person. I however simply do not believe the story in the first place, because the RTBU and ETU in warning that they were going to proceed with protected industrial action and then actually doing said industrial action, still doesn't change the fact that the whole thing stinks. Tell me any story you like, if it makes you feel better, but the truth remains that you've already caused me massive irritation; and I still think you are a knave. On day two of this malarkey, I don't even believe the announcements that rail staff apologise for anything; because if they actually were sorry, they wouldn't have done it twice.
If there is a pile of assorted chicken manure, horse manure, cow manure, cat poo, dog poo, mouse poo, elephant poo, et cetera, then I do not care a jot as to what kind of poo is actually causing the stink. I especially find it unpleasant when the RTBU and ETU expect us the general public to have a poo sandwich for breakfast; when you consider that we didn't cause the reason for their dispute in the first place.
Long time readers of this blog will probably come to realise by now that I generally do not wave the blue flag of conservatism, nor the yellow flag of libertarianism, or the green flag of environmentalism. My default flag is the red flag, under which cowards flinch and traitors sneer, while singing the song of angry men. I would have very much belonged to the British Labour caucus of 1948; which looked to the future and wanted to build that future for everyone. So when the RTBU and ETU take protected industrial action, I am simultaneously sympathetic to their cause and deeply angry at them.
What the jinkies do you think you're doing, people?
Do you really think that the government, which is currently a Labor Government and who should in theory be broadly sympathetic to your demands, are going to be able to wave a magic tonfa around and beat the parliament into acquiescing to your demand? Do you really think that you're going to make the government care? Do you really think that you're going to achieve anything by giving the general public the irrits? Do you honestly think that this is going to cause anything other than even more ire in the general public?
Where once there may have been goodwill, this is the surefire way to burn any support that you may have had with the general public. Where once there may have been people sympathetic to your cause, when people like nurses and doctors can not actually go to their place of work as a direct result of your actions, I can guarantee that as sure as God made little apples, that the only fruit which will be produces as a result of this action, is a desire that not only do you lose but that you all get fired and replaced with robot trains.
I leave the house at 0640 of a morning, to be on the 0651 train from Marayong to the City, or to take a bus to Blacktown and chance my luck with whatever comes from the mountains. Yesterday, there was no train to the City; so I put on my Rocket Pants and ran like a mad thing to get the 752 bus to Blacktown; wherein I did get a train. From 0659 it took until 1003 to get to Wynyard and I finally reached my destination at 1028. That's 3 hours, 48 minutes.
Today, I left the house at 0640, found that there was no trains on the Richmond Line at all, took the the 752 bus to Blacktown and a train which was already sitting there for goodness knows how long, eventually left in its own sweet time. I got to Wynyard at 0922 which is a 41 minute improvement, and I finally reached my destination at 0941. That's 3 hours, 1minute; so it is an improvment.
My question to the RTBU and the ETU, is why do you think that me as a representative of the general public, wouldn't want to do anything other than cause civil violence to you? Surely this is not the way to get people like me on your side.
How have you helped your cause? You have not. Not an iota. So why do it? As a display of the power that you have over people who you are trying to turn against you? That smacks of the heraldic lion of Finland which is trying drive a sword into its own skull. Is this the way to Amarillo? I do not know. I have never Amarilloed.
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