Commuters have been warned to expect “very significant” disruptions imminently across Sydney’s train network – including in the lead up to the busy new year period – after a court quashed a bid to halt industrial action.
It led the New South Wales transport minister, Jo Haylen, to concede on Thursday afternoon that the government had no certainty about the level of train services that would run from now until a new pay deal is struck, after the federal court earlier in the day dismissed the Minns government’s attempt to stop industrial action – including work stoppages – that rail unions had voted to take.
Rail unions can now take any of the more than 200 approved industrial actions – which include work stoppages, distance limits for drivers, orders to deactivate Opal readers and a ban on the state changing rosters – without needing to provide an official notice period.
Unions are yet to notify the government of the next actions they will take.
Haylen appeared furious on Thursday as she accused the unions of putting “a gun to our head” during negotiations with the threat of cutting services throughout the rest of December but especially on New Year’s Eve, when more than a million people will rely on trains to enjoy what is a “global event” for Sydney.
“This is not a toy train set. You can’t just move it around with a click of your fingers and expect that that’s going to service the millions of people across Sydney that rely on it each and every day,” Haylen said.
Matt Longland, the CEO of Sydney Trains, warned authorities expect between Thursday and New Year’s Eve to be “a challenging period on the rail network”.
“So this will be a very significant impact for the travelling public … we do expect that we will see impacts from this industrial action in the coming days,” he said.
Toby Warnes, the New South Wales secretary of the Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU), said the union would now tell its members they could bring forward industrial action.
Prior to Thursday’s ruling, the union had applied for a fresh protected industrial action ballot – which members had voted in favour of – that would be exempt from the interim injunction.
The earliest that industrial action under a new ballot could have taken place was 28 December, but Thursday’s decision removes that time barrier.
“As a result, industrial action will recommence immediately. We’re going back to our office to inform our members to enforce the bans that were on immediately before the injunction two Sundays ago,” Warnes said.
“Our message to the government is our door is open for the next two weeks at least to get this deal done. All we’ve ever wanted is to get the deal done. Come and talk to us and we’ll finish this and let the people of NSW get on with their festive season.”
“We say to commuters that they deserve a government that values its public transport system and right now it doesn’t.” Warnes said.
After Thursday’s federal court decision, the NSW government vowed to “take every possible measure” to ensure Sydney’s train network runs smoothly over Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
A NSW government spokesperson said the government would now lodge a section 424 with the Fair Work Commission to suspend or terminate industrial action – arguing it will risk community safetyand cause economic harm – “to protect New Year’s Eve and stop rail disruption”.
Haylen said the uncertainty and disruption that industrial action wreak at this time of the year was “intolerable”, and justified the legal challenge to ban stoppages on New Year’s Eve.
The court’s decision follows weeks of intense negotiations to resolve the pay dispute.
After the court decision, Damien Tudehope, the opposition industrial relations spokesperson, said: “Another cheap and desperate stunt has failed, leaving NSW families to suffer through a Christmas and New Year’s marred by rail chaos”.
Earlier this month, the government had successfully applied for an interim injunction that effectively paused rolling industrial action – which had been launched after an intense negotiating period for a new pay deal broke down.
Combined unions representing 13,000 rail workers have refused to budge from their demands for a 32% pay rise over four years – 8% a year – while the NSW government’s starting offer to the rail unions has been a 9.5% pay rise over three years, claiming the union’s demand was unaffordable.
In November, NSW police won a pay deal that will see wages rise by up to 40%.
Warnes previously said unions and the government had been “within a whisker” of a deal and were caught by surprise when they learned of the government’s “extremely damaging” legal action to block the industrial action.
However on Thursday, Haylen said tensions had left the parties “a long way apart” from a deal. “The treasurer and I met with rail union leaders late into the night last night, the government has put very reasonable offers on the table … but the fact is that the union has continued to strangle our public transport network”.
Before the dispute descended into legal action, combined rail unions had pushed the government into agreeing to run 24-hour services – used as a bargaining chip during pay deal negotiations – or else they would have launched a multi-day strike in late November.
However, the government said 24-hour services were unsustainable long-term given the need for maintenance works overnight.
The potential for a similar ultimatum for 24-hour services or no services at all could still arise, with Haylen refusing to speculate how the government would respond.
– Additional reporting by AAP
