NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet had a problem. It was an hour before question time on a Thursday in mid-November when the premier received an update on an industrial dispute with the state’s militant rail union, which had dragged on for longer than he had been in the top job.

The NSW Rail, Tram and Bus Union had released a schedule of planned industrial action for the following week, kicking off with a strike timed for Monday morning that would take 70 per cent of the state’s trains out of action during one of the busiest weeks of the year. And that was just the start of it.