Rail union calls off new strike action over New Year’s Eve after last-minute court bid
A crucial concession by the rail unions paved the way for Sydney’s famed New Year’s Eve fireworks to go ahead, the state’s Transport Minister has revealed.
The NSW government did not make any concessions to the rail unions before an 11th-hour agreement to halt industrial action over New Year’s Eve, the state’s transport minister has revealed.
Sydney’s famous New Year’s Eve fireworks were given the green light to go ahead after the combined rail unions - including the Australia Rail, Tram, and Bus Union - were dragged before the Fair Work Commission on Tuesday.
Representing the combined unions, lawyer Leo Saunders told the Commission the Section 424 applications had been withdrawn following a pledge to “general and specific undertakings” by the union.
“The combined rail unions as a whole commit to the following: no new industrial action that poses a threat to events on New Year’s Eve and all industrial action will be conducted in a way that ensures the safety of workers and passengers,” he said.
Asked what had changed after weeks of brinkmanship between the union and the state government, NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen said: “The union withdrew their industrial action. The Fair Work Commission assisted us in that process.”
“A formal statement was made before the Fair Work Commission confirming the withdrawal of that industrial action, and on that basis, we’re able to plan a full suite of public transport services for the people of Sydney.”
Ms Haylen said the state government had been asking the union to withdraw certain bans for several weeks, and confirmed no concessions were made to the unions ahead of Tuesday’s hearing in the Fair Work Commission.
Transport Secretary Josh Murray said the unions had been presented with “enormous amounts of evidence” about the need for operation certainty heading into the Christmas and New Year holiday period.
He confirmed as many as 1000 extra services would run on New Year’s Eve - about 40 per cent more than on an average day - with 3600 additional Sydney Trains staff and Metro services running every five minutes until 2am.
Speaking outside court, RTBU NSW secretary Toby Warnes said some bans, including the reduction on the number of kilometres a driver could travel, were withdrawn, and no new industrial action would be planned for New Year’s Eve.
“There was never going to be any rail shutdown or major disruptions on New Year’s Eve and now there certainly won’t be,” Mr Warnes said.
“I understand that people are uncertain of that because of the government’s rhetoric over the past three weeks.
“So, we call on the Minns government to stop now. Stop talking to their lawyers and start talking to their workers.”
The decision comes after what Mr Warnes described as an escalation in rhetoric from the state government who, alongside a number of large Sydney businesses, brought action against the unions on Tuesday.
Mr Warnes said the unions did not concede any planned action over the holiday posed a safety risk to commuters, and said it was up to Sydney Trains to ensure services were operating.
Asked if he could guarantee there would be services on New Year’s Eve, Mr Warnes said: “That’s really a question for Transport for NSW. They know which actions we currently have in place, they should be planning for those actions in terms of the effect that they may have.
“As I said yesterday, a lot of the impact of industrial action is because (TfNSW) don’t put appropriate contingencies in place.
“We don’t anticipate there’ll be an interruption on New Year’s Eve.”
Mr Warnes said the action planned by the union for New Year’s Eve would have “caused some minimal level of disruption”, but blamed Sydney Trains for showing “incompetence … when it needs to run services in a flat out manner”.
Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland said the rail agency was “working around the clock” to ensure plans were in place for New Year’s Eve services, and that they needed the support of the unions to ensure the night went smoothly.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcomed the update, and said he was “hopeful of a longer term solution”.
“(Chris Minns) has been working very hard to provide a resolution, and common sense has got to got to prevail here,” he said.
The Prime Minister said the implication on the Sydney Harbour celebrations had wider economic implications, with the fireworks show a “big ad” for Sydney.
“The best harbour in the world is Sydney … and the idea that that would be disrupted would be extremely counter-productive, and it’s good that it won’t be,” he said.
The state government had applied to the Fair Work Commission to halt the planned action based on provisions of the Fair Work Act that allow the Commission to overturn protected action if it is found to endanger the safety of the community, or damage the Australian economy.
Speaking outside of court, publican and former Member for Reid, Craig Laundy, urged anyone who may have cancelled bookings because of the uncertainty surrounding the strikes to “please feel free to get in touch”.
“We’ve had a few cancellations, but nowhere near as many as I thought, because I think that the public were confident that common sense would somehow provide and that’s what I think we’ve seen,” he said.
“I don’t know who was sitting around the table in either union when they decided that this would be a good idea. I would have thought there’d be one person put up their hand and say, ‘I don’t think it’s a good idea’.
“I don’t think the union’s position has a friend. I think it’s an orphan, and I think it was heard loud and clear. And if they hadn’t been successful, I think they would have set themselves back and the country back more broadly.”
Only minutes after proceedings got underway on Tuesday, a lawyer for Sydney and NSW Trains told FWC Deputy President Bryce Cross the “parties have had some encouraging discussions”. After half an hour, Mr Saunders returned to deliver the union’s pledge.
It came amid fears the proposed actions could put Sydney’s New Year’s Eve fireworks in jeopardy – a sentiment echoed by NSW Premier Chris Minns on Monday.
“Nothing is off the table, including, I hate to say this, but including cancelling the fireworks or recommending that people don’t go to the city during New Year’s Eve,” the Premier said.
The state government had planned to argue the train drivers’ protected industrial action endangers life – that is, thousands upon thousands of people in the CBD – with limited trains running – is a recipe for crowd crushes and drunken frustrations to boil over.
But less than a day ahead of the proposed start of the industrial action, the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RBTU) NSW announced they were dropping eight proposed actions.
The union said they wanted members to be “in the best possible position” for Tuesday’s hearing.
Recent cases invoking this endangering life argument gave some indication of how the commission might have gone.
In 2015, Melbourne tram drivers were planning to walk off the job for four hours after morning peak hour.
Yarra Trams tried to argue the strike would endanger lives, but the commission did not agree.
Earlier that year, workers at Ausgrid had their protected industrial action suspended because of concerns about restoring electricity lines should they be cut.
In 2011, unionised Victorian nurses were effectively closing one in three beds across the public health system.
That protected industrial action was suspended for 90 days.
Transport for NSW had estimated the whole network would be 200 drivers short on New Year’s Eve should the strikes have gone ahead.
However, that estimate was before Monday night’s concession from the union.
For its part, the RTBU NSW secretary Toby Warnes said: “We will be willing to do whatever is necessary to adjust our industrial action to ensure there is no safety risk”.
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The union has asked for a 32 per cent rise for its members over four years.
The government says the pool of money – which gave police a large pay rise, and nurses and firefighters a modest bump – has run dry.
On Monday the Premier and the RTBU state secretary flat out said they don’t trust each other.
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