Transport union vows to shutdown network for four hours over pay dispute

V/Line has been notified by the Australian Rail Tram and Bus Industry Union operations staff will take industrial action from 3am to 7am on Wednesday, December 13.

The first train on the Warrnambool line departs the city's station for Southern Cross at 6.12am.

Only non-driving grades will participate in the action, including conductors, train controllers, station and customer service staff and authorised officers.

But the union says it will bring the entire V/Line network to a halt.

About 93 per cent of its members have voted in favour of taking action as workers seek a 17 per cent pay rise over four years.

RTBU branch secretary Vik Sharma said the union was focused on minimising the impacts of the action on the public, encouraging commuters to plan their working weeks accordingly.

He said the union would continue to meet with V/Line and negotiate in good faith as members would prefer to avoid the stoppage if their concerns were addressed.

"V/Line needs to stop blindly driving this corporate cowboys' train and listen to its workers," Mr Sharma said in a statement on Monday.

"We make no apologies in our fight to secure decent conditions for our members."

V/Line chief executive officer Matt Carrick urged the union to reconsider, saying the planned action could disrupt tens of thousands of passengers.

"We'll continue to work with the union to deliver excellent employment conditions for our workforce and a better service for our passengers," he said.

"We will work hard to minimise the impacts of disruption on passengers."

V/Line is finalising replacement coaches and plans to notify passengers of the arrangements as soon as possible.

The union filed documents with the Fair Work Commission (FWC) in November for V/Line operations staff to take industrial action.

At the time the union said job security, increased workloads, cost of living pressures, staffing levels, additional services and delivery of major upgrades, new ticketing technologies and increased patronage were all relevant factors in this bargaining round.

The Standard has reported a number of hiccups experienced during the Warrnambool Line upgrade, which has already seen a fifth daily return service introduced in December 2022 as part of stage one, and aims to operate VLocity trains after the completion of stage two.

-AAP