Labor Council Steps into Rail Talks

Date: 28 April 2000

NSW Labor Council secretary Michael Costa will today intervene in the industrial dispute involving train controllers that threatens rail services next week.

Mr Costa said he would talk directly with Transport Minister Carl Scully today, would be available over the weekend and had assigned a senior officer to work full-time on reaching a settlement.

"This agreement is crucial because it will set the pace for wage outcomes across the industry," Mr Costa said.

"The fact that talks are tough is not surprising, but I am hopeful we can reach a settlement without having to disrupt the public."

Mr Costa also rejected claims by the NSW Opposition Leader that the threat of industrial action on the railways was a sign of the failure of the State Labor Advisory Council.

"This reflects a total misunderstanding of the SLAC structure," Mr Costa said.

"The Advisory Council was established to discuss broad directions of government policy not to deal with day to day industrial disputes.

"In fact, the Advisory Council has headed off several stoppages in areas such as competitive tendering, since it was established last year."

For further information

Contact:	Peter Lewis
Union:	Labor Council of NSW
WWW:	http://workers.labor.net.au/

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