Auckland Transport has today advised that its unionised CAF rail maintenance employees will be taking industrial action from tomorrow, Tuesday 11 June.
“We understand that the unionised employees will not be working overtime and there will be a partial withdrawal of labour,” Auckland Transport said in a statement.
In addition, unionised CAF employees will only be carrying out scheduled checks on trains, and will not undertake any other repairs or breakdown related work.
Auckland Transport Rail Franchise Manager, Craig Inger says he’s disappointed that discussions between CAF and the Rail and Maritime Transport Union of New Zealand have broken down.
“We are very mindful of the impacts that this will have on our customers, and we expect services will begin to be impacted from next week,” said Mr Inger.
“We need our trains to be safe and well maintained, and this industrial action may mean that some trains might not be able to operate.
“Safety is an absolute priority, and if trains cannot be repaired, we won’t be able to use them for services. This means we might see more cancellations.
“We strongly encourage the RMTU and CAF to find a resolution as quickly as possible. Aucklanders have been very patient with ongoing rail disruption, and we appreciate this will be frustrating news, especially given there is already industrial action impacting customers,” he said.
The industrial action is in addition to action underway by unionised employees of Auckland One Rail, which has reduced services at peak times.
Aucklanders are encouraged to check the AT Mobile App and Journey Planner to plan their trips, and check at.govt.nz/trainaction for updates.
