Rail workers strike over Government asset sales

The State Government's sale of assets has provoked industrial action at Queensland Rail (QR) as hundreds of workers walk off the job.

Up to 800 workers at the Redbank workshop, west of Brisbane, have walked off the job for the rest of the day.

They are angry the workshops are included in the planned float of QR's coal and freight business.

Electrical Trades Union (ETU) spokesman Jason Young says their jobs could go offshore to cheap foreign labour.

“Once it's put into the hands of private operators places like this are in jeopardy of offshore manufacturing and they will just be starved out of work – that's what we see under private enterprise,” he said.

“It's happening all throughout Queensland in other industries as well.”

Rail union spokesman Shayne Kummerfeld says workers believe they have been cheated.

“Our members have been sorely disappointed that they went out there and supported this Government,” he said.

Unions say they were promised that the workshops would not be part of the sale, but Treasurer Andrew Fraser denies that.

“No, what we said very clearly from the start is that we would look to sell the coal business above and below and that we would undertake an assessment of the other parts of QR,” he said.

The Queensland Council of Unions (QCU) is meeting to discuss wider action.

Rockhampton walk-out

There is also industrial action in central Queensland, where about 250 rail workers have walked off the job.

QR chief executive Lance Hockridge arrived in Rockhampton this morning to speak to the workers.

Rail workers gathered at QR's diesel workshop in Rockhampton earlier this morning, carrying placards and waving flags.

The workers are marching on the office of Queensland Government MP Robert Schwarten, demanding the Government reverse its decision.

Craig Allen, from the Rockhampton Council of Unions, says the sale of Queensland Rails coal and freight business has been rushed through.

“It's absolutely appalling for any Labor government to rush through such an important issue,” he said.

Workers say they are worried about their job security.

“I got a young family to support, i've got a house and a mortgage to think about,” one worker said.

Local ETU spokesman Nev Beattie believes says workers should not give up the fight.

“We might not win this but at least we had a go to try and change things,” he said.

“I can say to my grandchildren – if I ever have any – we had a go.”

Townsville strike

In Townsville in the state's north, almost 200 QR workers have also walked off the job.

The Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) says the workers will not return to the South Yards workshop until tomorrow.

RTBU Queensland vice-president Les Moffitt says there will be more industrial action leading into the new year.

“The union movement have now declared war on the Queensland Government,” he said.

“We are not going to sit back idly and allow all this to go ahead.

“It's not just rail workers we're talking about, it's Queenslanders in general that are going to suffer, because at the end of the day it is a public service Queensland Rail – it's been there 144 years, the whole state's only 150-years-old.”

– Reporting by Chris O'Brien, Maria Hatzakis and Natalie Poyhonen