One union could derail end to Sydney’s months of train chaos

One union could delay the end to the long-running industrial relations dispute between train workers and the state, as the Minns government holds hope the deal will be done at a meeting between the parties on Monday.

The Electrical Trades Union (ETU) is reportedly threatening to block the deal over a single issue, a position the Fair Work Commission described as “disappointing, to say the least”.

The government and rail unions have agreed to a 12 per cent pay rise. Credit: Max Mason-Hubers

After months of negotiations, the government and combined rail unions reached an in-principle agreement for a 12 per cent pay rise over three years, backdated to May 2024, on Friday.

The state government came out of negotiations on Friday afternoon celebrating the in-principle agreement as a win, claiming the agreement just needed to be voted on by union members.

But while the Rail, Tram and Bus Union supported the agreement in a message to members after the meeting, it came out swinging against the ETU, saying the union was blocking a vote over a single issue.

The ETU, which declined to comment when contacted on Saturday, is reportedly unhappy with the way maintenance and engineering employees are categorised in the proposed agreement.

Transport Minister John Graham is confident the deal will be able to proceed.Credit: Jessica Hromas

A recommendation from members of the Fair Work Commission, including president Justice Adam Hatcher, SC, said the issue was an “apparently insurmountable impediment to the parties reaching a successful outcome in their bargaining”.

“We infer that the dispute issue has at its heart, at least in part, a demarcation dispute between the ETU and other unions which represent maintenance and engineering employees,” the recommendation read.

“It is disappointing, to say the least, that a dispute of that nature could potentially delay the finalisation of a new agreement and the payment of well-deserved wage increases to the workers concerned, and open the door to a potential resumption of disruptive protected industrial action.”

The ETU and state government will return to the commission on Monday to try to resolve this final sticking point.

Speaking on Saturday, Transport Minister John Graham was confident the issue would not get in the way of the agreement.

“We’re continuing to talk to the Electrical Trades Union, those discussions are important, and we’ll deal with them respectfully … I’m confident with the continuing assistance of the Fair Work Commission. We’ve had 17 sessions with the parties, we’ll be able to work through these [industrial relations] issues,” he said.

The Fair Work Commission has suggested including a clause in the final agreement that would allow discussions to continue on how employees are classified without holding up the wage increase.

One of the major wins for Sydney Trains in the proposed enterprise agreement is a clause agreeing to ditch the current system of phone calls and paper note-taking during a crisis on the network, and replace it with a digital system.

Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland said last week’s train network meltdown, which was triggered by an electrical wire fault and led to three days of chaos, was made more difficult by the current system.

“The rail operations centre would have had more than a thousand phone calls over that period,” he said.

“I think regardless of the ability to respond through technology, that would have still been a major incident. What we may have seen is the day after that, the network would have got back in shape quicker.”

The agreement would finally bring an end to the rail workers’ industrial action, which had frustrated commuters with strikes and other actions since last September and threatened major events, including New Year’s Eve.

The unions had been seeking a 32 per cent pay rise over four years, while the government opened with a 9.5 per cent rise over three years before increasing it to the current offer of 12 per cent, plus back pay.

The Fair Work Commission ceased to approve protected industrial action earlier this year after the state government argued it posed a risk to the public and the economy.

The proposed agreement expires in 2028.

Regardless of the deal with unions, the Minns government is still facing tough questions about the reliability of Sydney’s train network.

A review into last week’s overhead wiring incident near Homebush is investigating what caused the fault, and what can be done to improve the network.

The review will also examine whether the recent rail repair blitz, which led to increased trackwork disruptions on weekends, actually resulted in improved reliability.

Opposition transport spokeswoman Natalie Ward said the government needed to focus on making sure residents could rely on the rail network.

“We don’t have that reliability on the train network, that isn’t guaranteed by this agreement, and this government needs to ensure that any deal that’s done hangs on reliability,” she said.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.