The transport union has accused the New South Wales government of playing politics with commuters amid claims the two parties had come to a weekend agreement which would have prevented a shutdown of the state’s train network.
Sydney’s transport network was thrown into chaos on Monday after a long-running industrial dispute between the rail workers’ union and NSW government saw staff across the network “locked out” and train services ground to a halt.
Late on Monday night, the transport minister, David Elliott, announced the government had backed away from the shutdown and limited train services would resume on Tuesday. But he still encouraged those “who typically rely on the rail network to find alternative travel options”.
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union welcomed the decision, saying the government had “finally backed down on its outrageous rail shut down”.
Services had been disrupted across the city on Monday including routes connecting Sydney to the Blue Mountains, the south coast and Newcastle. Buses were put on to replace some services but commuters were told to allow for extra travel time.
Both the premier, Dominic Perrottet, and Elliott, sought to attack the union for what they labelled a last-minute union “strike” which crippled the network as universities returned and international visitors began arriving into the state.
Elliott accused the Rail, Tram and Bus Union of “hijacking the city” with “terrorist-like activity” and claimed the department had taken the decision to shut the train network down due to safety concerns related to the industrial action.
But the union continued to argue the government had not explained why the planned industrial action would have made the network unsafe.
After hours of negotiation behind locked doors at the commission, the union’s barrister, Lucy Saunders, said the union remained unsure why the government had closed the train network.
“If it’s explained, if our understanding changes, we remain willing to negotiate,” she said.
Amid heated public barbs from both sides, Elliott and Perrottet claimed the union had not shown up at a conciliation meeting before the commission on Sunday night.
But earlier, Saunders told the commission that assertion was wrong, saying there was “some fairly unhelpful media commentary going on [from] the government”.
“Of course [the assertion that the union didn’t appear at negotiations] is not correct. I assume it’s a misunderstanding but it would be helpful if it could stop,” she said.
The Guardian understands that while the union’s secretary, Alex Claassens, was not at the commission on Sunday night, barristers and other representatives from the union were there. Later on Monday, Elliott also conceded he had not been at the meeting.
But union representatives stressed the action was not a strike, and that rail staff had arrived at work on Monday to find themselves locked out.
Claassens said on Monday that the action would have impacted management, but not commuters.
The NSW government has been locked in an industrial dispute with transport workers for months amid pay and privatisation concerns. The union has already taken a series of industrial steps, including protected stop work actions, and had planned to begin a two-week action including a series of work bans.
On Saturday, the government took the step of applying to the Fair Work Commission to block the union from taking action. The two parties were in negotiations before the commission over the weekend and appeared to have come to an agreement by Saturday night.
As part of the deal, the union had agreed to drop some planned industrial action including an overtime ban and to only work to a “master roster”, but would continue with a ban on “altered working”, meaning workers only perform the shifts they are set without changes.
On Monday, the NSW industrial relations minister, Damien Tudehope, claimed the union “walked away” from the deal, saying the government returned to the commission on Sunday but that “no agreement could be reached”.
“In those circumstances, with the work practices being put in place and the withdrawal of services in the way that they were outlined by the union, Sydney Trains took the view that we could not properly, reliably and safely operate Sydney trains,” he said.
But the union said the government simply did not understand what it had agreed to. Elliot conceded on Monday there had been a “misinterpretation” of Saturday’s deal on the part of the government.
“We walked away on Saturday thinking it was done and dusted, then at 8pm last night they dragged us back because they realised what they’d agreed to didn’t satisfy them so they asked the commission to return,” Claassens said.
“They had no idea what they wanted, they fluffed around and wanted us to just drop the action. Obviously, we saw no reason to do that given we’d already come to an agreement.
“You can imagine my surprise when they did an ‘Alan Joyce’ on us and locked us out,” – a reference to Qantas’ decision to lock out workers during an industrial dispute in 2011 which led to the Fair Work Commission ordering that union to terminate its action on the grounds it was threatening the economy.
Perrottet denied comparisons to Qantas on Monday, saying the government had been advised by the department that it would not be safe to run the network under the actions to be taken by the union.
“You don’t just turn a train system on in a few hours,” he said.
Limited services will resume from 5am on Tuesday while negotiations with the union continue.
Elliott on Monday night urged “the combined rail unions to put their political agenda aside so Sydneysiders don’t face more interruptions” and said the government would “continue to negotiate with the unions and work through their list of claims”.
The union labelled the shutdown “a huge dummy spit by the NSW government supported by their federal counterparts”.
“To deliberately shut down the rail network on such a big day for many people, seemingly so they can run a fear campaign about unions, is quite extraordinary,” Claassens said.
“Workers will now go back to taking the protected industrial action we’d planned – action that really only transport management will notice, not commuters.”
Speaking at Sydney international airport earlier on Monday, where the first tourists were arriving into the country in almost two years, Perrottet, said he was “incredibly disappointed” trains weren’t running, accusing the Labor party and unions of launching a “coordinated attack”.
“The first day we have international arrivals, a day mums and dads are getting their kids to school, a day when many university students are going back to class … the unions were intent on causing chaos,” he said.
“This is the unions playing games with the Labor party for political purposes at the expense of our people … you cannot treat the people of our great state in this way. This is the Labor party in bed with the union movement.”
But Claassens rubbished that claim, accusing the government of “playing politics”.
The Labor opposition leader, Chris Minns, called on the government to work with the union and restart trains.
“Let’s be clear – the only people who didn’t turn up to work today is the NSW government,” he said. “Perrottet shut down the rail network. He needs to work to open it back up.”
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, condemned the industrial action, accusing the union of making it hard or impossible for some essential workers this morning.
“There are people this morning who are going to have an overpriced Uber or they’re going to be not able to get to work,” he told 2GB. “This is not how you treat your fellow citizens.”
