Potential Industrial Action In Sydney If Union Deal Not Met

Sydney commuters are facing the potential of further industrial action if the NSW Government fail to reach a deal with the Rail, Tram and Bus Union before the end of the weekend.

While a last minute ceasefire was called at the end of November, time is running out for the government to meet union demands, with RTBU NSW secretary Tony Warnes saying action was planned for next Monday when the ceasefire ends.

Premier Chris Minns was unable to give a straightforward answer when asked about the planned disruption, saying, “I don’t know when a breakthrough would come.”

Opposition transport minister Natalie Ward criticised the Minns government, calling their management of the train network “chaos.”

“Who is in charge here?” she said. “Commuters didn’t expect the unions and bureaucrats to be running the train network.”

RTBU demands shifting

The union was previously arguing for 24 hour trains between Thursday to Saturday night, although negotiations are now focused on reducing a kilometre ban, which will prevent union members from travelling over a certain distance each day.

Negotiations have currently stalled, with the union exploring further action if an agreement isn’t met by Sunday.

“We’re looking at a number of other actions that we hope will convince Transport to come back to the bargaining table,” RTBU secretary Warnes said.

One of the biggest rail disruptions in NSW history averted

The NSW government only narrowly avoided huge rail disruptions when negotiations broke down at the end of last month, with transport minister Jo Haylen announcing a strike right before an agreement was made with the union. She blamed union work bans for potential disruptions.

“We have respectfully asked the unions to withdraw these bans. Unfortunately, they are yet to do so. These bans make it harder and harder for us to operate our train network, and it does mean that passengers should expect disruption later this week,” the transport minister had said.

Ultimately, an eleventh hour agreement was made, with the union agreeing to drop work bans if the government allowed 24 hour trains over the weekend.

Both parties have stated that they want this conflict over with by the end of the year.

“Nobody wants this,” Haylen said. “I don’t want this. The government doesn’t want this, the passengers certainly don’t want this. But the only way to keep our city moving is for the union to lift its industrial bans on Friday and Saturday.”

In a Facebook post, the RTBU accused Sydney Trains of a laissez faire attitude to negotiations.

“We met yesterday, and they have so far refused to lock in another meeting despite repeated requests. The lack of urgency is a real cause of alarm to our bargaining team.”

“We want this bargain finished by the end of the year, but the Government seems content to sit back and let it ride. This isn’t going to fix itself, and we need some buy in to get this done.”