Enterprise agreement reached for Manly ferry operator amidst claims of steering failures
Employees of the of Sydney ferries operator Transdev signed a new enterprise agreement after more than 10 months of negotiations, while questions about safety issues of the Emerald Class vessels remain.
December brought mixed feelings for the Manly ferries. On the one hand, after more than 10 months of meetings and negotiations employees of the of Sydney ferries operator Transdev signed a new enterprise agreement (EA).
Transdev Sydney Ferries general manager of operations, Jarrod Graham, said Transdev and the unions reached an agreement in principle and now must vote in person as to whether to accept the new conditions.
“The proposed EA is a four-year term agreement with the Maritime Unions. We are confident it will further strengthen our relationship with our people, trade union colleagues and bring positive results for customers, Sydney ferries and Transport for NSW,” Mr Graham said.
The vote stopped the ferry services for approximately four hours on 13 December. Customers travelling between Manly and Circular Quay were advised to plan ahead to avoid major inconveniences.
On the other hand, Manly ferries continued to face setbacks as the latest vessel in the problem-plagued fleet of Emerald ferries was pulled off the water late in November.
A Sydney Morning Herald investigation found ‘internal government data showed they (the ferries) have suffered at least a dozen steering failures over the past year’.
The figures, allegedly seen by the newspaper, indicate the Fairlight ferry experienced eight steering failure incidents since late 2021, while the Balmoral had three and the Clontarf one.
The paper’s report also claimed that the ‘six first-generation Emerald Class ferries, mostly used on inner-harbour routes, had experienced seven steering failures in the past two years’.
The Balmoral vessel was returned to service late last year, according to Transdev, after extra engineering controls were put in place, finding no equipment failure.
At the time of publication, Transdev’s own investigation results into the issues had not been disclosed to the public.