Rail commuters face ‘delays, cancellations’ despite court blocking industrial action

Commuters were set for major disruptions on Sydney’s rail network on Monday despite the Minns government succeeding in an 11th-hour bid to block the state’s rail unions from resuming industrial action.

The Minns government sought an injunction in the federal court late on Sunday to block the combined Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) from resuming industrial action from Monday morning after both parties failed to reach a breakthrough despite a fortnight of intense negotiations over a new pay deal.

Premier Chris Minns’ spokesperson welcomed the court’s outcome but warned there would be “some impacts on the network on Monday that could not be undone in time”.Credit: Edwina Pickles

The RTBU had vowed to reinstate a restriction on the distance each driver or guard can travel a day from Monday if a breakthrough was not reached. The action would have severely limited the range at which trains can operate, posing the greatest disruption to intercity services that run on lines such as the Sydney to Newcastle or Wollongong. It is likely to cause major disruptions to commuters.

The action was successfully blocked on Sunday after the government filed a federal court injunction, but a Transport for NSW (TfNSW) statement warned there would still be major disruption.

TfNSW said “delays and cancellations” were likely throughout Monday on the T1 North Shore and Western, T2 Leppington and Inner West, T3 Liverpool and Inner West and T8 Airport and South lines. The T6 Lidcombe and Bankstown Line services will be replaced by buses between Bankstown and Lidcombe.

In a federal court hearing on Sunday night, the government’s lawyer, Matthew Minucci, argued that the significance of the impact of the disruption “far outweighed” the impact on the union being asked to delay its industrial action.

The cumulative impact of the industrial action over three days would have a significant impact on the rail network’s ability to operate, he said.

But the union’s lawyer, Leo Saunders, said the government was overstating the impact of the action.

“The network is not shutting down on Monday by any rational view of the world ... the effect of the current, actually planned industrial action, is some disruption,” Saunders said.

The parties are likely to return to court in the next day or two unless the government is able to land a deal with the union. In a statement, a spokesperson for Minns welcomed the decision but warned there would be “some impacts on the network on Monday that could not be undone in time”.

“This was not a decision we took likely,” the spokesperson said.

Earlier Minns said that despite “exhaustive negotiations”, the two parties had not reached an agreement by Sunday afternoon, prompting the government to seek a court order blocking the action.

“I’m disappointed, and I’m very sorry about it, but unfortunately that’s where we are,” he said.

The government has been mired in a series of industrial disputes with workers, including the Nurses and Midwives Association over a new pay deal, and Minns pointed to those disputes in refusing pay demands of the combined rail unions.

“At the end of the day, I can’t say yes to the rail unions whilst at the same time say no to the nurses union and other unions reaching reasonable settlements over the course of 2024,” he said.

The move shocked the RTBU, which accused the government of derailing negotiations that it said had been going “incredibly well”.

“From our perspective, everything was heading in the right direction, but unfortunately all the good work has now been blown up,” RTBU NSW secretary Toby Warnes said.

At the heart of the late-night court dispute is a multi-enterprise agreement, which is a protection for workers if parts of the state’s transport assets are outsourced or privatised. The government and union had both consented to the agreement, but the government’s lawyers argue that decision meant the RTBU’s planned industrial action was now unprotected.

NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman blasted the government over the union furore, saying Minns had left the decision until “five minutes to midnight”, and accused Labor of turning the state “into a circus run by union ringmasters”.

“All Chris Minns offers NSW families is a timid apology and more chaos … he’s too weak to govern, too scared to lead, and too anchored to the union to fight for everyday commuters,” Speakman said.

The government averted a shutdown of Sydney’s rail network late last month after agreeing to a fortnight of intense negotiations with unions and caving in to a key demand from the RTBU for 24-hour trains for several days.

The last fortnight of bargaining has involved a Treasury official assessing the savings and productivity gains the union had identified as part of the wages deal.

The government’s opening offer comprised wage rises of 9.5 per cent over three years, as well as a further 0.5 per cent in the first if a deal is reached in a “timely manner”. It is substantially lower than demands from the RTBU and five other unions for a 32 per cent pay rise over four years.

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