The NSW government has lost its legal bid to suspend future industrial action by the rail unions after a week of major disruptions across the network.
Since June 9, the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) has directed its members to engage in a range of disruptive practices, including refusing to staff trains manufactured overseas, banning the cleaning of hazardous waste, and reducing the maximum speed of trains with "go slow" periods.
Between October 2021 and March this year, action by the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) has included refusing site access to contractors not employed by Sydney Trains and stopping work on capital works projects.
On Monday the NSW government applied to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to halt any further action by the unions, arguing it had led to losses in excess of $100 million and was doing significant economic damage.
It also claimed cleaning bans were posing an unacceptable health and safety risk to commuters.
But in his decision published on Saturday, FWC deputy president Bryce Cross disagreed.
"I find that no part of the protected action of the unions … has threatened, is threatening, or would threaten to endanger the life, the personal safety or health, or the welfare, of the population … or cause significant damage to the Australian economy," he said.
He found that much of the evidence provided by the NSW government about economic impacts was based on "inexplicable assumptions" and generalised predictions that were impossible to rely on.
"Even those predictions, while large figures, would not cause 'significant damage' to an economy of half a trillion dollars," he said.
He said while "at first blush" the cleaning bans did appear to carry risk, there was no indication that they had, in fact, made trains unavailable to the public.
"There is a complete lack of evidence of the actual hazardous environmental factors and states said to arise from the cleaning bans," he said.
During this week's industrial action, services were reduced by up to 70 per cent on at least two weekdays, which caused major delays for commuters.
Government says it has met union demands
One of the RBTU's key reasons for the disruption is to protest against what it says are safety issues with the new intercity fleet of trains, which are due to be brought online this year.
The union says the trains do not allow guards to properly view the platform before departing and it wants them modified before it will allow them to go into operation.
The state government says this week it gave a signed letter of commitment to the unions to spend $264 million to modify the trains.
But NSW RBTU secretary Alex Classens said the FWU ruling did not get them any closer to a resolution.
"We've won in the commission, but we still don't have a commitment from the NSW government that it will make the safety changes required," he said.
However Mr Classens said the union did not have any strike action currently planned.
"This has been a remarkable waste of taxpayer dollars", he said.
"The NSW government ran, and lost, a case aimed at stopping protected industrial action that doesn't even currently exist."
Acting Minister for Transport and Metropolitan Roads Natalie Ward said bringing action in the FWC did at least force the unions to back down on several grounds.
Following the government's application, rail unions lifted a significant number of bans on cleaning, operating Millennium and B-set trains and electrical work on the Metro construction.
“This is a step in the right direction, especially at a time when NSW is battling natural disasters," Ms Ward said.
"The people of NSW want us focused on supporting those most in need, and delivering world-class transport services, and we expect union leadership to do the right thing and consider the impact of ongoing industrial action on the community."
The NSW government says it remains concerned that continued industrial action will adversely impact the community. Ms Ward called on the unions to come to a "reasonable compromise".
“We have a world-class train network, and the only reason it isn't providing world-class services is because the unions are playing politics. The people of NSW deserve better."
