{"id":91457,"date":"2026-09-09T02:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T02:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/91457\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T02:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T02:14:09","slug":"opal-readers-on-sydney-ferries-to-be-switched-off-for-four-weeks-union-says-amid-industrial-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/91457\/","title":{"rendered":"Opal readers on Sydney Ferries to be switched off for four weeks, union says amid industrial action"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opal card readers on Sydney ferries will be turned off for almost four weeks, the maritime workers union says as they step up industrial action against the private operator Transdev.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sydney Ferries workers have been stuck in enterprise bargaining negotiations with the operator, as the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) pushes for a 5 per cent wage increase and an annual increase to offset inflation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MUA deputy branch secretary Paul Garrett told 702 ABC Sydney the card readers will be turned off from 12:01am on Friday, September 11 until 11:59pm on October 6.<\/p>\n

“Everyone travels for free until this dispute’s resolved,” Mr Garrett said.<\/p>\n

“This is a decision that’s been made because we can’t get Transdev Sydney Ferries and their parent company, Transdev Australasia, to the table for a fair wage increase.<\/p>\n

“We’ve been trying now 13 odd times with meetings. Workers have had enough.”\"a<\/p>\n

Transport for NSW says Manly services have been disrupted due to a limited ban on overtime work. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Mr Garrett said Transdev had made an offer of a 3.3 per cent wage increase per year, which he described as “substandard”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

702 ABC Sydney has contacted Transdev for comment.<\/p>\n

Mr Garrett said some services might be cancelled as a result of industrial action banning some overtime work on ferries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Part of the problem with these negotiations is that workers have got to work endless overtime to keep services running,” Mr Garrett said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Our intention is not to stop the services. We’re not taking strike action.”<\/p>\n

\"the<\/p>\n

The Maritime Union of Australia says ferry workers “have had enough”. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Sydney’s ferries were impacted on Wednesday morning last week due to a stop-work meeting of union members.<\/p>\n

Deactivating readers falls outside industrial action: Transdev<\/p>\n

Despite the union’s announcement, Transport for NSW said normal fares would continue to apply on Sydney Ferries services.<\/p>\n

According to a statement from Transport for NSW, Transdev Sydney Ferries considered deactivating Opal readers as being outside of the industrial action notified by the maritime union.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“There has been some speculation about free travel on Sydney Ferries during this period,” Transport for NSW coordinator-general Howard Collins said.<\/p>\n

“However, normal fares continue to apply and all passengers are required to tap on and tap off with a valid Opal card or contactless payment method when travelling.”<\/p>\n

However, Mr Garrett said the union would be going ahead with the industrial action as announced.<\/p>\n

“We won’t be selling, collecting or validating tickets,” Mr Garrett said.<\/p>\n

“Passengers I’m sure will be enjoying a free ferry trip as from Friday.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Collins told 702 ABC Sydney on Tuesday that the Manly ferry service was experiencing significant disruptions from the union’s industrial action on overtime work.<\/p>\n

“We’re asking customers if they’re travelling by ferry, or planning to, check in advance,” Mr Collins said.<\/p>\n

“We are now asking Transdev to focus on maintaining those core routes.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opal card readers on Sydney ferries will be turned off for almost four weeks, the maritime workers union…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[159156,159157,70196,159160,247,159158,159159,132748],"class_list":["post-91457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-ferry-opal-turned-off","tag-ferry-strikes-sydney","tag-maritime-union-of-australia","tag-opal-cards","tag-sydney","tag-sydney-ferry-industrial-action","tag-sydney-ferry-opal-cards","tag-transdev"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}