Relief at the end of industrial action by tram staff over a pay dispute will be short-lived once people realise how much the compromise is costing taxpayers, the opposition says.
Strikes planned for Melbourne next week will not go ahead after Yarra Trams and the public transport union agreed on Friday to a 14 per cent pay rise over four years.
The Victorian government has welcomed the end of the dispute but the opposition says the compromise is a sign of weakness.
"It's weakness ... to stand up in the face of union strikes that's seen us get industrial peace but at the highest possible price," opposition spokesman John Pesutto told reporters on Saturday.
The tram deal sends the wrong message about enterprise bargaining between public servants and the government, Mr Pesutto said.
"Public sector unions ... will be looking at this deal and thinking, 'Well, we now know where the goalposts are; we can push hard and we know that the premier doesn't have the ticker to stand up to us, so he'll cave in eventually."
That could mean a government wages blowout that would put Victoria in debt, the Hawthorn MP says.
But Small Business Minister Philip Dalidakis denied the tram pay deal is a precursor for a public wages blowout.
"The government has got a very firm wage policy," Mr Dalidakis told reporters.
"If this fits within the envelope, then I think in terms of all the other public servants out there, their wage claims will also have to fit within the envelope as well."
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