Transport Minister David Elliott to invoke legal options to end rail union industrial action

Furious Transport Minister David Elliott has let rip at the striking rail union, confirming he’s requested legal advice on invoking legislative options to end the chaos.

Transport Minister David Elliott will look at legal actions to prevent further strikes by the rail union, after half a million Sydneysiders were left stranded by grounded trains and buses on Wednesday.

The words came after tensions with the Rail, Tram and Bus Union escalated dramatically, with Premier Dominic Perrottet saying Wednesday’s decision not to run foreign-built trains – cutting services to just 25 per cent – was “absolutely disgraceful”.

Mr Elliott, at the Premier’s request, tabled a final pay agreement which he said the union must take to its members.

He said if any industrial action was taken before a decision, the offer – including a $264m promise to alter the New Intercity Fleet – would be shredded, as well as their current enterprise agreement, and the Fair Work Commission could be called in to arbitrate.

“Any industrial action on Sydney trains … we will terminate (this offer) immediately,” he said.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said he’d had enough of the RTBU’s ongoing industrial action. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

“I will not have our city grind to a halt … by the actions of a union movement which belongs in the 1970s … there’ll be no further meetings.”

“Any industrial action on Sydney trains or Metro, which is costing hundreds of millions of dollars to the people of New South Wales, (we) will seek to terminate and this matter will be resolved in Fair Work Commission,” the Premier said.

People pushed their way into overcrowded carriages at Strathfield train station on Wednesday morning. Picture: John Grainger

Mr Elliott, who earlier said the union had “shat on me from a great height” despite his support for them, told The Telegraph he has “asked for legal advice as to whether I can invoke legislative options that can be used to stop future strikes”.

“The Premier has made it very clear that nine months of negotiations and countless hours of lost productivity at a time when Sydney is recovering from Covid has now run its course,” he said.

RTBU NSW Secretary Alex Claassens said the government’s claims they would rip up the agreements were “empty rhetoric” and appealed to the Premier to meet directly with him.

Before heading into the crunch meetings on Wednesday, unionists promised to give commuters at least two weeks of “relative peace” after the string of strikes that caused chaos across the city.

Transport Minister David Elliott threatened to “shred” the enterprise agreement offered to the RTBU. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) Secretary Alex Claassens said the two-week period was the government’s window to settle the ongoing negotiations before more disruptive industrial action is hurled at commuters.

His peace offering comes after the industrial action intensified on Wednesday with bus drivers also striking.

“There will still be a series of industrial actions that we’ve had on all the time. Things like wearing badges, wearing T-shirts … That stuff will continue,” he said.

A seething Mr Claassens blamed “boofhead” politicians who ”live in ivory towers” for failing to meet the demands of workers.

Commuters eagerly waited for trains that arrived about every 30 minutes on Wednesday. John Grainger

He took aim at the government for several recent attacks against rail workers from frustrated members of the public, which have been reported by Sydney Trains to NSW Police.

“It’s very frustrating when a politician goes out there and calls us thugs, terrorists, you name it. And when the dregs of society pick that up and start attacking our members out there, on stations, trying to do the job that they love … it has to stop,” he said.

Mr Claassens, who serves on the Labor Party’s administrative committee, also called out Labor leader Chris Minns.

“We expect the Labor Party to be going out there and standing up for worker rights,” he added.

“That’s what they should be doing and they are not doing it.”

It comes after a morning of chaos on Sydney’s transport network with commuters squeezed into overflowing carriages as train services were dramatically slashed by up to 75 per cent and bus drivers pulled key routes offline at peak hour.

Originally published as Transport Minister David Elliott to invoke legal options to end rail union industrial action