Sydney’s New Year’s Eve party ‘held to ransom’ in rail union stand-off with NSW Government
The government is urging commuters to avoid unnecessary travel on Saturday to avoid Christmas chaos. Transport Minister Jo Haylen said close to 40 percent of trains - representing more than 360 services - were expected to be cancelled or delayed today.
NSW
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Tourists and families trying to get away for Christmas are having their travel plans thrown into disarray with significant delays on the rail network as a result of the ongoing industrial action.
The government is urging commuters to avoid unnecessary travel today to avoid the chaos.
Transport Minister Jo Haylen said close to 40 percent of trains - representing more than 360 services - were expected to be cancelled or delayed today.
In some parts of the network, passengers were already having to wait up to an hour, she said.
Travellers and tourists arriving or hoping to get away for Christmas were also being impacted on what will be one of the busiest days at Sydney Airport, with “significant” delays of up to 45 minutes on the T1 and T4 airport lines.
Taking aim at the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) which yesterday claimed its actions would have a “minimal” impact on services, Ms Haylen said the impacts on the ground today were “real”
“There is a very big difference between what the union says and what the union does,” she said.
“I’m calling on the union to withdraw their actions to allow families to celebrate this time of the year and provide business with the certainty that they need. This is not a game.
“We cannot have ongoing industrial action at this time of the year, particularly over New Year’s Eve. No amount of industrial action is tolerable.”
The government has lodged an application to the Fair Work Commission to try to have the bans lifted, which will be heard on Christmas Eve.
Other business - such as Laundy Hotels - have also lodged applications, citing economic harm from the actions.
Ms Haylen said she was aware of up to six applications that had been filed.
Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland urged commuters to avoid unnecessary travel with the delays being experienced by commuters on Saturday will worsen throughout the day.
“Major delays are currently being experienced on the T1, the T2, T3 and the T8 lines … which could get worse later in the day,” he said.
“We’re asking passengers to avoid non-essential travel on the railway route today.
“We’ve got Randwick races on today, we’ve got the big bash cricket at Olympic Park this evening and we’ve also got Carols in the Domain this evening in the city. Allow plenty of extra travel time. We’ll be doing everything we can to keep families moving and to be able to get them home after those events, but it will get increasingly difficult throughout the day today.”
Mr Longland said Sydney Trains was doing everything possible to “prioritise” airport services, but urged travellers to “travel early” or “think about another mode of travel to get you to the airport for essential flights.”
NYE THREAT
Meanwhile Sydney’s New Year’s Eve has been thrown into chaos with scores of revellers cancelling accommodation bookings and furious hoteliers seeking legal action as a defiant rail union refused to stop its industrial action.
In a major escalation of the dispute, Police Commisioner Karen Webb warned she would have no option but to seek to cancel the event should families be unable to travel homes safely, as hotel boss Craig Laundy accused the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) of holding the city to ransom.
The collapse of negotiations with the union prompted the Minns government and the Laundy Hotels group on Friday made an unsuccessful eleventh-hour application to the Fair Work Commission to try to convene an urgent hearing in a bid to have the bans lifted due to the significant harm to large hoteliers and other businesses.
The Commission declined the request, ruling the matter be heard with an existing but separate application it has made to be heard on Christmas Eve for the union action to be terminated on economic harm or public safety grounds.
An estimated 250,000 revellers were expected to head to the CBD by public transport to watch the fireworks extravaganza, which has been held continually for four decades – including a scaled-down, seven minute display during Covid.
Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) bosses shot down claims its work bans posed a safety risk,
bizarrely declaring its actions would have “minimal” impact on the night despite earlier declaring the network could be at 50 percent capacity.
In a comical press conference, NSW rail union secretary Toby Warnes accused the government of “resorting to hysteria” while seemingly suggesting that he could not be held to account for something he may have said at an earlier press conference.
“It has gotten so bad that the government has resorted to having honest hard working public servants come out and tell fibsabout the effect of our action – and action which would at the most have a minimal impact,” he said.
Rail union president Craig Turner claimed “no trains ran on the timetable” on the night anyway, and that New Year’s Eve “will be the same as every other one”.
“No train ever runs on a timetable. Everything is slow,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter with our actions on. It will be exactly the same New Year’s Eve as it least it has run for the last 20years. People will get into town and it will be safe. They will get
home with their families. This is public hysteria.”
Ms Webb said she held “grave concerns” about their safety should they not be able to travel home afterwards.
“If trains aren’t available, and people can’t leave the city, I have very large concerns of the risk that will create to the public because families won’t be able to get home and they’ll be trapped in the city. No way out,” she said.
“I haven’t ruled out that I will recommend to government that we cancel the fireworks. It’s that serious.”
Business Sydney boss Paul Nicolaou claimed hospitality businesses across the Harbour City were experiencing scores of cancellations amid “ongoing uncertainty” surrounding the world-renowned event, while NSW Hire Car Association boss Simon Kalipciyan said thousands of bookings to and from the Sydney CBD were in jeopardy.
Mr Laundy said up to 1600 bookings across two of his CBD venues were “at risk as a result of the farce that is the RTBU”.
He accused the union for “ruining” New Year’s Eve for revellers, many of whom would be travelling from Western Sydney.
“I’ve got a question for him – who the hell are you? And when did you become the defacto person in charge of the people of Western Sydney that just want to go in and have a nice night on New Year’s Eve?”
“The entire hospitality industry across the CBD has hundreds of thousands of bookings in place and the union has put everything at risk.”
Vowing to stare down the unions, Premier Chris Minns said he would not be “dragged” back to the negotiation table and would not be “handing over a blank cheque”.
The union is demanding a 32 percent pay increase over three years, and a reduction in work hours, which Mr Minns said NSW taxpayers could not afford.
“There are limits to how much we can spend. This is not my money. This is the taxpayer of NSW’s money and ultimately we can’t be held hostage to a situation where people are unnecessarily interrupted in the run up to one of the most important and busy periods of the entire year,” he said.
A City of Sydney spokesperson also said the council could be liable to pay around $6 million should the even not proceed.
“There would also be a significant financial impact on local businesses, as well as broader economic impact, if the eventdid not go ahead,” the spokesperson said.
Bookings slip with fireworks up in air
A boutique Sydney hotel has seen cancellations and rooms left vacant for what would normally be its busiest night of the yearas international and local revellers prepare to axe their New Year’s Eve celebrations in the Harbour City.
Castlereagh Boutique Hotel general manager Paul Brasch told The Saturday Telegraph he has seen five cancellations amid the threat Sydney’s NYE fireworks could be cancelled as a result of an ongoing stand-off between the Rail, Tram and Bus Unionand the NSW government.
The industrial action, which was revived this week after a successful stay in the Fair Work Commission earlier this month,could result in widespread train cancellations.
Mr Brasch said five groups had cancelled bookings for New Years celebrations – costing the hotel thousands of dollars – while a dozen rooms remained vacant.
“This is normally our busiest night of the year, but the uncertainty around the main event of the fireworks is killing confidence for our customers,” he said.
“We have seen staff unable to find ways to get to work during the last rail stand-off, which meant they even offered to stayin the hotel conference room overnight in an effort to serve our customers.”
Mr Brasch said his staff, mostly coming from the city’s west and relying on public transport, were uncertain as to how they would get to work during a strike.
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