Email to members reveals rail union ‘resolved to fight government with everything we’ve got’

In an extraordinary email striking train staff have been told the Perrottet government “does not deserve a moment of peace” until the election. Do you think the strikes are a political ploy?

In an extraordinary email sent to Rail, Tram and Bus Union members, signed off by its secretary Alex Claassens, striking train staff have been told the Perrottet government “does not deserve a moment of peace between now and the next election”, seemingly proving the state’s ongoing industrial action is a political bid to give Labor a clear run to victory in March.

The email, authorised by Mr Claassens, declared the government “completely lost the plot” when Premier ­Dominic Perrottet threatened to tear up a wages agreement if industrial action continues.

“We are resolved to fight this government with everything we’ve got,” the August 31 email read. “This government does not deserve a moment of peace between now and the next election.”

Despite Mr Claassens declaring commuters would have another week of relative peace from industrial action, the email said a number of “indefinite actions” would “continue to cause (the government) pain”.

“Contrary to media reporting – we have not dropped any industrial action,” it said.

The email was authorised by Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) NSW Secretary Alex Claassens, but not written by him. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

In subsequent campaign updates, the RTBU has vowed its fight against the government will be “smart” and “long”.

“Every time they take us on, we win. And we will again.”

Treasurer Matt Kean seized on the email, saying it showed the “union movement unmasked”. He said the union was “bragging about its political agenda around the election, without so much of a mention of the hundreds of thousands of commuters who are suffering under this Labor and union campaign”.

Mr Claassens, who did not write the email but signed off on it, denied it showed the union was fighting the Perrottet government on ideological grounds in order to help Labor win the election.

Treasurer Matt Kean reckons it’s a slam dunk proving the union’s political agenda. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

“I don’t care whether it’s a Liberal government in power or a bloody Labor government in power, I’ve had the same fights with the Labor government, and I would do it again in a heartbeat,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

He said the RTBU would continue industrial action which did not inconvenience the public – like keeping turnstiles open allowing customers to board trains without paying.

However he said if the union did not get a resolution in the Fair Work Commission, in hearings set down for Tuesday and Wednesday, further strikes could be on the cards.

“If there is no resolution, then I suspect that our members and delegates will ramp up their industrial action,” he said.

“I am trusting the Fair Work process will force the government to the table to negotiate in good faith. And failing that, I will go back and talk to our members and delegates and see what the next steps are.”