Train delays continue despite court action against union
Despite the Minns government’s late-night court win to prevent rail strikes, almost a third of Sydney trains have been delayed as the stalemate between the government and unions shows no sign of breaking. See how your line is affected.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The RTBU is threatening a fresh round of strike action despite the government winning an injunction to prevent industrial chaos before Christmas.
The union will ask members to vote on a range of new industrial actions including strikes if trains don’t run 24-hours over weekends.
The ballot process will take at least two weeks.
Almost a third of train services did not run to time this morning, as the rail network suffered the aftershocks of recent union strike action.
Commuters had been warned of major delays despite the government scoring a court win banning further industrial action from the combined rail unions.
Transport minister Jo Haylen said taking the unions to court was the right move.
She said services disruptions should be minimised by the afternoon peak.
“This morning more than 70 per cent of trains on our suburban network ran on time, and this afternoon’s peak should be an improvement on that again,” she said.
Premier Chris Minns said the government did not take the court action lightly.
“On Friday, 40 per cent of rail services were knocked out, even with the injunction going through, 30 per cent were knocked out this morning, and it’s a massive inconvenience if you rely on that train to get you to work,” he said.
Meanwhile, as Christmas chaos looms, Sydney Trains has pleaded with commuters, asking people to take every measure possible to plan ahead.
Earlier this morning, rail commuters reported their services running up to 15 minutes behind schedule, as of 8am.
“Plan your route, plan ahead and use your apps,” a NSW Transport spokeswoman told The Daily Telegraph.
“We are doing our utmost to provide the best (services possible).”
Paul Brasch, General Manager of Castlereagh Boutique Hotel, said the strikes had caused serious disruption to business.
“Most of our workers commute from Western Sydney to work,” he said.
“We even had a number of staff, up to eight staff, wanting to stay in. And we set up temporary bedding in one of our conference rooms, because we’re full house and we needed to service at the hotel, particularly our food and beverage team and our housekeeping team.”
Commuter Faith Murphy, 21, from Holsworthy said it was frustrating getting to work late and not knowing in advance what the rail disruptions might be.
“It’s usually pretty good on the apps letting you know beforehand, but sometimes it’s just out of your control,” she said.
Her sentiments were echoed by 20-year-old Chantelle Delacruz from Blacktown who works in the city.
“I empathise with the workers,” she said. “I understand they’re striking for a good reason but unfortunately I pay for this, and if I can’t get to my work or appointment on time, what am I paying for?”
The T6 line is the hardest service hit with trains completely cancelled between Bankstown and Lidcombe.
On the inter-city lines, only one service is running every hour from the Illawarra and the Blue Mountains. Two services, every hour, are running from the Hunter and Central Coast regions.
The spokeswoman said it was “important” for commuters to understand Sydney Trains were running an amended train timetable and they were “working hard to restore” the normal timetable as “operationally practical this week”.
“We are not seeing any crowding (at the moment) … the network is very intertwined … (every line) will have a flow on effect,” she said.
The spokeswoman called on commuters to look at alternate forms of transport, including the metro, buses, light rail and ferries.
NSW Premier Chris Minns told 2GB’s Ben Fordham the government hopes full services will be returned on Tuesday.
In discussing negotiations with the rail unions, he said “how can I say yes to rail workers when I’ve said no to nurses”.
When asked whether he was willing “to go back to the wages cap that worked successfully for Dominic Perrottet”, Mr Minns said “we’re not”, and denied its success.
“A lot of public servants might not have been on strike, they were just quitting,” he said.
“We had 10,000 cancelled classes in public schools every single day as a result of people leaving.”
Mr Minns added that “when it comes to rail, they were never subject to the wages cap ever, not for the 12 years”.
It comes as the Federal Court late last night granted an injunction banning industrial action from the combined rail unions, sought by Transport for NSW after pay negotiations broke down.
The injunction came too late to save pain for Monday commuters, after rail authorities cancelled services and warned of major delays on multiple lines.
The court order stops industrial action, for now, but both parties are set to return to court in the coming days.
The court action was a bid to break a stalemate that came after Mr Minns refused to cave in to union demands, including the Rail, Tram and Bus Union’s demand for a 32 per cent pay rise.
Mr Minns announced on Sunday that his government had sought an injunction to stop the RTBU slowly strangling the network by increasingly limiting the amount of kilometres its members would work on a shift.
Despite the court bid, commuters will face significant disruptions today.
“Recent industrial action … will significantly disrupt passengers on Monday, particularly those travelling on Intercity services,” TfNSW said in a statement.
Delays and cancellations were expected on more than half a dozen lines.
In Sydney, cancellations were forecast on the T1 North Shore and Western, T2 Leppington & Inner West, T3 Liverpool and Inner West and T8 Airport & South lines.
TfNSW said that services on the T6 Lidcombe & Bankstown Line would be replaced by buses between Bankstown and Lidcombe.
Brand new intercity trains were also expected to be cancelled.
The Blue Mountains and South Coast lines will only have one train per hour in each direction on Monday, while The Central Coast & Newcastle line will have two per hour in each direction.
TfNSW made the call to cancel services just before 6pm on Monday; a spokeswoman warned that regardless of last night’s court hearing, commuters would be inconvenienced on Monday.
Mr Minns said that despite two weeks of “exhaustive negotiations,” the government and unions had failed to reach a deal.
In a statement, a NSW Government spokesperson said the Federal Court’s injunction means there will be “no industrial action pending a further hearing to be set by the court at a later date”.
“There will be some impacts on the network on Monday that could not be undone in time despite the welcome actions of the Federal Court in granting the injunction. This was not a decision we took lightly,” the spokesperson said.
“The NSW Government is pleased we have some certainty for NSW commuters, particularly as we head into the Christmas and New Year period and will continue to work for an agreed outcome.”
The RTBU had been threatening to progressively limit the number of kilometres its members would work on a shift, as part of a demand for a 32 per cent pay rise.
The action, due to start Monday, would have added to ongoing Electrical Trades Union work bans.
“After two weeks of negotiations we have not been able to come to a fair deal with the combined rail unions,” Mr Minns said.
“Daily exhaustive negotiations have not resulted in a breakthrough despite the government’s best efforts,” he said.
“I’m disappointed and I’m very sorry about it, but unfortunately that’s where we are.”
Mr Minns said he could not “say yes to the rail unions” while saying “no to the nurses union,” which is also in dispute with the government.
The Daily Telegraph understands the unions put an offer on the table but it was not accepted by the government.
RTBU Secretary Toby Warnes accused the government of being “inflammatory” and “irresponsible” for seeking court orders to stop industrial action.
“We are desperate to reach a deal, but it appears the NSW Government is more interested (in) threatening workers and continuing chaos,” he said.
“They have been aware of this action for over six weeks, but they’ve waited until the 11th hour to pull a stunt like this.”
Join the conversation
Transport Minister quits after using government chauffeur for winery trips
Jo Haylen, forced to admit she used her private ministerial driver for a trip with her husband to a Hunter Valley winery, resigned as Transport Minister on Tuesday during crisis talks with Premier Chris Minns.
Read more
Lawyers warned of alleged bail fail as blame game erupts
Criminal lawyers have been warned about preparing bail applications involving ankle monitoring bracelets being tracked by a private firm as the NSW government moves to shift blame for the alleged bail fail crisis.
Read more