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Premier rejects Pope strike `terror tactics`

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NEW South Wales will not bow to the "industrial terror tactics" of rail workers who are threatening to strike during World Youth Day, Premier Morris Iemma says.

The Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) said today it was planning a 24-hour strike by rail workers on July 17, the busiest day of the Catholic event.

It is the day Pope Benedict XVI will make his way through the streets of Sydney during the afternoon peak.

The NSW Government will take the matter to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) tomorrow.

Mr Iemma said his Government would not cave in to the RTBU.

"The Government will not be blackmailed into giving them what they want as a result of these industrial terror tactics," he said.

"The threat to embarrass the state on one of the most important days of the recent history will not cut ice with the Government."

Mr Iemma said the Government had offered the RTBU a 4 per cent pay rise each year for two years, and it was willing to continue negotiations.

RTBU NSW secretary Nick Lewocki said he understood the planned action would cause major concerns for commuters with no contingency plans in place.

"But again we ask the commuters, the public out there, to understand you can`t have frontline public sector essential workers being told they need to take a pay cut and cut back services," Mr Lewocki said.

A World Youth Day spokesman said organisers were confident the Government would resolve the matter.

Mr Watkins said the Government would go to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) today in an attempt to resolve or defer strike action.

"Any threat to take industrial action ... is irresponsible, and in particular next week," Mr Watkins said.

"It will have a major negative impact on the people of Sydney, families going about their business as well as that for the many thousands of visitors who will be here for World Youth Day."

The RTBU said it was taking the action because the Government had failed to offer its members an acceptable pay increase.

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