Train drivers to get millions in extra wage deal perks

Train drivers will now be paid extra to remove dead animals from the tracks, watch over workplace assets while doing their jobs and receive an allowance for dangerous work while they’re on leave.

Commuters are seen at Bondi Junction Train Station in Sydney. Picture: Gaye Gerard / NCA Newswire

Sydney train drivers now have some of the cushiest jobs in the state as new details come to light of additional perks awarded by the Minns government under a brand new wage deal.

Sydney Trains staff will now be paid extra to remove dead animals from the tracks, watch over workplace assets while doing their jobs and receive an allowance for dangerous work while they’re on leave.

New details of the deal, yet to be released publicly, came after the Combined Rail Unions voted to accept the NSW government’s pay offer ending months of industrial action that wreaked chaos across the state’s rail network.

Union members accepted an offer of a 12 per cent pay increase over three years with an extra four per cent backdated to May 2024. This was down from their original ask of a 32 per cent increase over four years and a 35-hour working week.

Yet the new enterprise agreement which has yet to be signed off by the Fair Work Commission includes around 100 changes to previous agreement, including a raft of new conditions to sweeten the deal.

Train staff will now be paid extra to pick up dead animals, watch over workplace assets and receive an allowance for dangerous work while on leave. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

Amongst a suite of brand new allowances includes a dead animal removal allowance, which will allow workers to pick up more than $30 extra for each animal removed from the tracks. This will exclude creatures like insects, rats and pigeons but will include animals like dogs and cats.

They will also receive a workplace protection officer allowance of an extra $30 per shift and a more than $6 per shift asset protection allowance for staff who watch over company property while they’re on shift.

Staff who work on dangerous electrical jobs are currently eligible to collect an electrical safety allowance, similar to danger money. Under the new agreement they will now be paid this allowance while they’re on leave for up to four weeks.

The agreement ended months of industrial action, which wreaked havoc across Sydney’s rail network. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Workers will also receive a generous $25 per week allowance if they attend union approved training on workplace rights to a total of $1310.6 per year. Should all employees across Sydney Trains and NSW Trains take up this option, it would cost the NSW taxpayer more $17 million per year.

Other new perks include new $30 meal allowances for transport officers, while the number of accrued days off staff can accumulate will increase from five to 10.

Acting Premier Ryan Park said he believed the government got the balance right. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

In an effort to prevent the repeat of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union holding up new projects on the rail network for years over safety concerns, the new agreement will also stipulate a four week time frame for the completion of a safety risk assessment. In return, a union delegate will be in attendance at all future meetings on the safety of new infrastructure projects.

This comes after the former government’s new intercity rail fleet was held up for years over a safety dispute with the RTBU.

Opposition Industrial Relations spokesman Damien Tudehope called on the government to release the total cost of the agreement. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

Opposition Industrial Relations spokesman Damien Tudehope called on the government to release the total cost of the agreement which has yet to be revealed.

“The Budget has a modest $89 million increase for Transport employee expenses but with 14 months backpay at 4 per cent plus another 4 per cent wage rise for 2025-26 the hit to the Budget from this deal is likely to be around $250 million for 2025-26 alone,” he said.

“The new agreement includes a generous $25 per week for every single employee who does attend union approved training on workplace rights – no doubt including the right to take protected industrial action for the next agreement in three years’ time.”

Acting Premier Ryan Park said the government was confident the agreement was a good deal for taxpayers.

“We’re confident we got the balance right,” he said.

“We’re confident that this deal will end industrial action and … that there will be improvements on the rail network.”