Sydney train strike: Rail union’s push for free public transport would cost taxpayers millions

The government has hit out at the rail union’s ‘childish games’ saying Sydney’s New Year’s Eve fireworks may still be cancelled if the union doesn’t agree to drop strike action as the union claims it has a ‘trust deficit’ with Premier Minns.

Rail union demands to make all public transport across the state free, while a wage deal is negotiated would cost the taxpayer at least $1.53 billion per year or $127 million per month, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

The Combined Rail Unions put the offer to the NSW government on Sunday evening, saying it would drop its industrial action, which threatens to curtail New Year’s Eve celebrations, until January 7 on the condition that all forms of public transport were made free until a deal was done.

Under the conditions outlined in the email seen by The Daily Telegraph, the NSW government would be required to make all forms of public transport free for commuters including bus, Metro, rail and light rail. It would also be required to drop its action in the courts.

With a wage deal possibly taking months to be negotiated, the government on Sunday evening said they would reject the offer at the risk of lumping taxpayers with a heavy bill.

Premier Chris Minns urged the union to drop strike action over the Christmas and New Year period. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

Minister for Transport Jo Haylen said the union were playing “childish games”. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

On Monday, NSW Premier Chris Minns said the ongoing dispute could still see Sydney’s New Year’s Eve fireworks cancelled, urging the union to drop industrial action over the Christmas and New Year period.

“There are literally millions of people that need to see family, to see friends over the Christmas period and having the kind of chaos on our transport network as a result of this industrial action is the opposite of what an international city wants and needs.”

“Cancelling the fireworks and recommending that people don’t go into the city during New Years Eve… that’s an extreme position. That’s not a recommendation I want to make,” he said.

“I think that at some point the union leadership has to say, well we’ve been given a fair offer, we can’t hold the people of Sydney hostage as a result of them not accepting that offer.”

Commuters board the few running trains from Central station as many platforms remain closed as industrial action continues. Picture: Tom Parrish

Mr Minns said rather than offer free public transport during the wage negotiations — as the union have demanded — the government would actually have to raise transport fares if it agreed to the union’s demands to increase wages by 32 per cent over four years.

“Now, when you consider the families that are doing it tough enough at the moment, particularly in the Christmas period, we can hardly ask them to reach even further into their pocket to pay for that kind of pay increase, that kind of salary increase for RTBU and combined rail union members,” Mr Minns said.

The premier said he had “stupidly” agreed to fare free days in the past in the hope of solving the dispute, however, given the “strikes keep happening” he has lost trust in the union.

“At the end of the day, the government has to draw a line in the sand,” Mr Minns said.

RTBU NSW Secretary Toby Warnes said the union had “put an offer of peace” to the NSW Government to give Sydneysiders “clear air” over Christmas and New Years.

“Unfortunately, it seems like the government has rejected that offer,” he said.

Mr Warnes took issue with Mr Minns’ notion he had agreed to free fares on two previous occasions, saying it had only happened once.

“We’ve kept our end of the bargain on every time that we’ve spoken to the premier,” he said.

“There is a trust deficit … because every time we’ve taken him on his word … he has back flipped and filed against us in the court … he’s done something sneaky, and underhand that is not worth of the office of the premier.”

Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the union’s demands of fare free public transport were “absolutely contradictory” to their other requests. “So they say they want 32 percent pay increase? Well, we’d have to almost double public transport fares to pay for that,” she said.“Yet they want to make public transport free. Ms Hayden said at the end of the day it was passengers and businesses which were the “victims … in the union’s childish games”.

Earlier, a spokesperson for Premier Chris Minns said the government had agreed to union requests to make public transport free twice before which failed to end the industrial chaos.

“This would cost millions of dollars that we don’t have,” the spokesperson said.

“If we did do it, the people of NSW know that it has to be paid for by them in another way – it’s just not affordable.

“We will keep all legal options on the table to ensure this industrial action does not impact the holiday period.

“The unions demanded free travel twice before, which the NSW government has agreed to and the unions went straight back to taking industrial action.”

Train disruptions continue across Sydney due to ongoing industrial action. Picture: Tom Parrish

The government estimates the Rail, Tram and Bus Union’s wage claims of 32 per cent over four years would represent a compound increase in the wages bill of $720 million per year. This would mean fare revenue would need to increase by 76 per cent to cover the cost of the pay demands.

Hotel boss Craig Laundy, one of multiple business leaders who placed a submission with the Fair Work Commission to have the industrial action stopped on New Year’s Eve due to significant harm to businesses.

The Laundy Hotel’s group boss said despite the combined union’s new “peace deal” they would not be withdrawing their submission.

Mr Laundy said the hotel group would still “go head first into battle” with the union over the industrial action.

“The union have been playing the NSW public off a break, they’re using New Year’s Eve as a pawn in their game,” he said.

“(The RTBU) has finished holding the NSW public hostage for New Year’s Eve and has now moved onto the NSW taxpayer.”

The astonishing wage claims by rail union bosses which are threatening to torpedo Sydney’s New Year’s Eve celebrations could see the average earnings of a Sydney Trains driver reach nearly $200,000 if the government approved the demands.

The Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) will ramp up their industrial action over the next fortnight resulting in more service cancellations by refusing to unclog toilets and wash off graffiti.

New documents detailing the pay scales, obtained by The Daily Telegraph show the RTBU’s demands of a 32 per cent increase over four years would see an average total package for Sydney Train drivers increase to $198,764 in the fourth year of the deal should the Minns government give in to the wage demands. The projected figure includes loadings, allowances and superannuation.

The average total package for train drivers in the first year of the deal would reach $157,081. Excluding superannuation it is projected Sydney train drivers would earn $177,468 in the fourth year of the deal. Transport for NSW estimates the average salary of a Sydney Trains driver is $128,196 including overtime and extra allowances. The RTBU, however says the base salary of a train driver is $76,388.

The revelations come as union officials refused to stop industrial action on New Year’s Eve, resulting in scores of revellers cancelling accommodation bookings and furious hospitality groups including Luna Park and Merivale placing submissions with the Fair Work Commission seeking to prevent the action.

The Minns government has lodged an application to the Commission to try to have the bans lifted, which will be heard by the courts on Christmas Eve.

On Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the rail union would “lose public support” if they continued to disrupt the holiday period with strike action.

“The Minns Government are being reasonable and we support their actions, I know it’s before the Fair Work Commission tomorrow and I hope that provides some resolution,” Mr Albanese said.

“[The RTBU] will lose public support if they engage in activities that disrupt the public during … Christmas and New Year.

“The NYE fireworks is a global event that showcases Sydney, this beautiful city to the whole world. And it’s important that people be able to get into and out the suburbs, the retail centres of our city in Sydney in order to be able to do their Christmas shopping and prepare for Christmas,” Mr Albanese said.

Transport for NSW has estimated that industrial bans prohibiting train drivers from travelling over a certain number of kilometres per shift, would result in a shortage of more than 200 drivers on New Year’s Eve meaning hundreds of services would be cancelled or delayed.

The industrial bans relate to work union members refuse to do as part of their protected industrial action.

While the RTBU’s industrial action has already resulted in major disruption across the rail network, resulting in more than 600 cancelled services over the weekend, more union bans will come into place this week.

From Saturday trains will run slowly with drivers preparing to operate services 23km/hr slower than the usual speed limit.

From New Year’s Eve, union members will also refuse to repair broken or clogged toilets on trains and stations and will not remove graffiti. They will also not deal with lost property.

Minister for Transport Jo Haylen said the new bans would see further cancellation of train services. Picture: NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the new bans against cleaning would result in trains not meeting the minimum requirements to run.

“If these industrial actions go ahead it means fewer trains on our tracks and more cancelled services and delays for passengers,” she said.

A spokesperson for RTBU NSW said the salary projections were “severely inflated” but were still “a mere fraction” of the salaries of Transport department executives. The union also denied that disruptions to services were the result of industrial action.

“The current service disruptions are being manufactured by the government,” the spokesperson said.

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Originally published as Sydney train strike: Rail union’s push for free public transport would cost taxpayers millions