‘Sneak strike’: State government says rail union is gaslighting commuters

The state government has accused the rail union of carrying out a “sneak strike” as hundreds of workers failed to show up to work and a quarter of Sydney’s train services were cancelled on Friday.

Rail, Tram and Bus Union members triggered a “go slow” action to reduce train speeds on Friday, but when the government indicated workers wouldn’t be paid if they proceeded with the action, many decided to simply not show up for their shifts.

A combination of industrial action and sick leave meant 350 workers stayed home and 465 services were cancelled on Friday morning.

Internal Sydney Trains data seen by the Herald shows the proportion of train services running on time had fallen to zero on by midday.

“I’m so sorry that Sydney has woken up to a sneak strike,” NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said.

Transport Minister John Graham revealed the government was seeking an urgent hearing on Friday in the Fair Work Commission to “stop this industrial action that is taking place”.

While Graham would not spell out specifics of the action, he said the government was “looking for some relief” saying there was “evidence of coordination” from the union over the rail chaos. The hearing is expected to start at 2.30pm.

Internal Sydney Trains data shows trains running at zero per cent on time at 1pm.

Negotiations broke down on Thursday evening when the government says it was blindsided by a union claim for a $4500 sign-on bonus.

“I think the union is gaslighting Sydney,” Mookhey said.

One text message to members, signed by apparent Rail, Tram and Bus Union convenor Adam Doyle, told train drivers to “f--- the network up”. Union secretary Toby Warnes said he was unaware of the message.

“I know that one text message has been uncovered. I’m sure there’d be many more out there,” Warnes said.

Despite the author of the text, Adam Doyle, identifying himself as a RTBU convenor, Warnes said the text was not endorsed by the union.

On Friday morning the RTBU triggered the industrial action, during which drivers are running trains 23km/h slower than usual in areas where the speed limit is more than 80km/h.

When the state government told the union they wouldn’t pay participating workers, drivers were told by union officials that they were allowed to simply not show up for work.

Commuters have been warned to delay non-essential travel or use alternative forms of public transport. More than 350 services had been cancelled by midday.

Every line was impacted, and the worst delays were on the T2 Inner West and Leppington line and the T8 Airport and South line. A limited rail replacement service was brought in to take travellers from Central to the airport.

“After extensive negotiations over the last few days, the unions at the last hour asked for a $4500 bonus payment for every rail worker. This was never part of our offer, nor was it in the union’s counteroffer,” a NSW Government spokesperson said.

“As a result, the union has instructed drivers not to show up to work today.

“We are looking at all our options including urgent legal action.”

Warnes said members not showing up to work did not constitute a strike when the government refused to pay participating workers.

‘Silence is golden’

In a notice to members on Thursday night, the union told members their “silence is golden”.

“You can simply not go to work. You don’t have to tell anyone you are coming back the next day, you just have to turn up,” the notice said.

“You will not be paid for the entire shift that you either don’t show up for, or enforce the go-slow. If you are found to have been enforcing the go-slow, you may lose your full shift of pay.”

Warnes said the enterprise agreement was “done” on Thursday night before the $4500 one-off bonus came up.

“The agreement was done, and the government came in and said ‘we will not pay you the $4500’ – the only reason the $4500 came up is because we sought to bargain with the government and say we can forego the $4500 … in order to increase the pay increase in year three. That was the only sticking point we had left,” Warnes said.

Warnes told the Herald the union would forego the one-off bonus for a 1 per cent pay boost in the final year of the agreement.

This would have come at an added cost to the government of $20 million, he said.

That one-off sign-on bonus, Warnes said, formed part of the agreement struck with the former transport minister David Elliott, which the union believed should have been rolled over to a new agreement.

The government disputes this and says the former bonus was for a one-off payment and was never to be included in any new deal. Elliott said on 2GB that when he signed the agreement it was only intended to be a one-off payment – not rolled into subsequent agreements.

The breakdown in negotiations meant 5000 individual so-called 471 notices sent to workers came into force at midnight, although Warnes stressed no official directive had been given to staff to not show up to work. Those notices stipulated that if any rail worker failed to carry out all their duties, they would have their pay docked.

Sydney wakes up to rail fail

At Ashfield station just before 8am, there was a sense of confusion as trains lingered on the platforms with some passengers uncertain about the reasons behind the delays.

One Central-bound train had been waiting for at least five minutes, leaving a passenger from Doonside worried about missing a flight to Melbourne.

“I don’t have Uber on my phone, but I am about to,” he said.

Business NSW chief executive Daniel Hunter predicts the impact of Friday’s train chaos will cost the economy millions of dollars as customers avoid heading into the city on Valentines Day.

“Some business are on the brink … this can push them over the edge,” he said.

Business Sydney executive director Paul Nicolou blasted the union’s actions on Friday as “a stark example of economic vandalism and industrial bastardry”.

“This ongoing campaign is sapping confidence in our city with businesses for months hit hard by transport disruption deterring people from coming into the city for work, shopping and entertainment,” he said.

“Today on Valentine’s Day, businesses could have expected more activity in the city but now they can expect to see more bookings cancelled.”

With Michael Ruffles and Riley Walter

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