Moderator: MAN 16.242
The 1990 Melbourne Tram Strike
I vaguely remember it, the BLF was also big during these days I believe, in the building industry. Clearly unions back then were open to blatant abuse of power.awatea36 wrote:I would be very surprised if any members of this forum can remember what kind of power the transport unions had back then.
funbus wrote:
OMG
They slashed the tyres on the bus just to block the trams
Wouldn't happen these days
DEFLATED totally different to "slashed"LocoLes wrote: MET No.907 Volvo B59 [Ansair] was parked across the tracks and it's tyres deflated [see photos].
LocoLes
They certainly look good. Thanks for the photos.
The BLF had been deregistered in 1986 by the Cain Labor government. The BWIU, referred to be some, particularly ex BLF officials, as "the bosses union" took over. It was involved in an amalgamation which formed the CFMEU in 1992. It wasn't the union officials who organised the tram blockade, it was the workers, somewhat against the wishes of a number of union officers. The all or nothing approach of the then Minister, the late Jim Kennan, exacerbated the issue, the issue being the removal of tram conductors. Kennett eventually got rid of the conductors, but before his promised "$50 million" ticketing system was in place. The "$50 million" ticketing system, Metcard, eventually cost over $1 billion and was plagued with faults for years. It was actually more expensive and less reliable that the much maligned myki but was working quite well at the end. In the late 90s, trams ran with the driver collecting fares on the weekend. The obvious occurred, and trams bunched up so that they came every hour with three or four in a line. The contempt for the travelling public was palpable, matched only by the stoppage of Jan/Feb 1990. The decision of the Baillieu government, based on a still secret report, not to install ticket machines on trams, rounds off a fairly sorry picture for trams.V981 wrote:I vaguely remember it, the BLF was also big during these days I believe, in the building industry. Clearly unions back then were open to blatant abuse of power.awatea36 wrote:I would be very surprised if any members of this forum can remember what kind of power the transport unions had back then.
, but $1 billion would pay a LOT of conductors for a LOT of years . But NO, lets buy generally "overseas" ticketing technology, where the $$ go out of Australia 
and obviously in Metcard & Myki scenarios, keep paying millions and millions to keep them working 
Only MY opinion, and I'm old fashioned, but new technology is NOT always better 
It looks really good. Gotta be one of the greatest liveries, up there with the 'brown bomber' livery. Certainly looks better than the current one, went to Melb a few years back, but no tram livery seems to have been imprinted to my head. Is it white and black with a bit of orange saying "PTV"?LocoLes wrote:...
provided a colourful attraction for those who believe green and cream was 'the perfect Melbourne livery'
...
Even with a new ticketing system, it boggles me why they didn't go with the Australian bidder who was heavily involved in the implementation of "Oyster" in another prominent world city. Whilst I believe their initial bid was slightly higher than the consortium which brought us Myki, they probably would have got it right the first time, so in hindsight, would have been a hell of a lot cheaper by completion of the project. And they are based in Melbournes southern suburbs.Tas Bus Nut wrote:With all the blow-out in costs of these "state-of-the-art" ticketing systems, really makes you wonder if KEEPING the conductors ON, would have not only relieved some employment problems
As you said but green for trams. TBH I quite like it and I suspect the green is a nod back to the original MMTB livery. However with the slab sided trams of today I'm not convinced the MMTB livery would work in either brown or green form. However I am sympathetic to claims that the battleship grey of the first set of Yarra Trams liveries was nothing exciting.It looks really good. Gotta be one of the greatest liveries, up there with the 'brown bomber' livery. Certainly looks better than the current one, went to Melb a few years back, but no tram livery seems to have been imprinted to my head. Is it white and black with a bit of orange saying "PTV"?
