A 24-hour rail strike is under way in Wellington and the morning rush hour passed with minimal disruption on the roads.
Photo: rnz / Palona Migone
- Wellington rail workers are on strike from 2am Thursday until 2am Friday.
- Trains on the Johnsonville, Melling, Hutt, Wairarapa, and Kāpiti lines are not running. There are no replacement buses.
- Around 30,000 rail passengers normally use the services.
- Metlink urged commuters to allow extra travel time this morning, but many people heeded advice to stay home and traffic eased by 8.30am.
- Bus services are running as usual.
- Passengers on the East by West Ferries' harbour crossing from Days Bay to Queens Wharf were warned the service would be busy.
- Wellington high school students are sitting eight NCEA and scholarship exams today; none are being cancelled.
- The strike was called after a breakdown in talks between the rail company Transdev and the Rail and Maritime Transport Union over pay, penal rates and working on statutory holidays.
- Transdev is apologising for the disruption and says it's willing to talk to the union at any time to solve the dispute. over penal rates and working statutory holidays.
- Rail and Maritime Transport Union general secretary Wayne Butson said the employer was trying to lower wages, and will not listen to its concerns.
Keep up with events with our live updates here.
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