SYDNEY (AFP) – Sydney New Year’s fireworks, one of the world’s most spectacular celebrations of the calendar change, will go ahead after an 11th-hour agreement Tuesday between train workers and the government.
Up to 250,000 people are expected to come to Sydney to see the show, and they need to return home afterward.
Train workers had threatened industrial action over a bitter pay dispute, with the government floating the fireworks’ possible cancellation, citing fears commuters would not be able to get home safely.
But a case scheduled to be heard by the country’s Fair Work Commission on Tuesday was withdrawn an hour after the court hearing began.
“Families can now have confidence that they can get in and out of the central business district, business can plan and people can get to and from work in this critical time of the year,” New South Wales Transport Minister Jo Haylen said.
“Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and the Sydney Test (cricket match) are too important to the state and they are now safe as the union has withdrawn their industrial action.”
Rail, Tram, and Bus Union state secretary Toby Warnes told local media it had never been the union’s plan to cause major disruptions on New Year’s Eve.
Pay negotiations between the government and the rail workers will resume in the coming weeks.
