NSW government loses bid to stop rail industrial action

The Perrottet government has suffered an embarrassing defeat in its efforts to stop unions taking industrial action across Sydney’s rail network.

The Fair Work Commission on Saturday afternoon dismissed the NSW government’s application to suspend the industrial action for 10 weeks, rejecting “inexplicable” claims that it was harming the state’s economy.

The loss is a major setback for the NSW government, which is engaged in multiple disputes with unions representing public sector workers, who are pushing for higher wages and improved working conditions amid rising inflation.

Premier Dominic Perrottet and Transport Minister David Elliott inspect the Sydney Metro City tunnels last year.Credit: James Gourley

Commuters faced heavy disruptions on the rail network in recent weeks as the rail unions refused to staff certain overseas-built trains, while the government also warned ongoing action on the Sydney Metro project was blowing out costs by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Premier Dominic Perrottet declared “enough is enough” on Monday and announced his government would drag the unions before the industrial umpire.

Lawyers for the government argued the ongoing industrial action was “significantly” damaging the NSW economy and impacting Sydney’s workers.

In a written judgement Fair Work Commission Deputy President Bryce Cross rejected the government’s claim the action was harming the state’s economy, saying many of the assumptions underpinning the NSW Treasury analysis were “less than convincing”.

“I have difficulty in accepting the accuracy, expressed in the broadest sense, and acceptability of the economic evidence relied upon by the [government],” Cross said.

Cross described certain evidence given by a deputy secretary of NSW Treasury as “difficult to understand or inexplicable,” while adding the government’s argument regarding the impact on the Metro megaproject used “unexplained calculations”.

He said the rail unions had taken steps to improve possible risks stemming from their industrial actions.

“I find that no part of the protected action of the unions … has threatened, is threatening, or would threaten to endanger the life, the personal safety or health, or the welfare, of the population or of part of it, or cause significant damage to the Australian economy or an important part of it,” Cross said.

NSW Rail Tram and Bus Union secretary Alex Claassens welcomed the commission’s decision and said while they had the all-clear to conduct more industrial action, they had not planned any.

“We’ve won in the commission, but we still don’t have a commitment from the NSW government that it will make the safety changes required to the new intercity fleet, and confirmation that any changes made won’t come at the expense of workers’ take-home pay and conditions,” Claassens said.

Acting Transport Minister Natalie Ward said despite the decision, the government had secured several concessions from the unions.

“It is now time for the unions to come to the table and clearly explain their reasons for continuing to hold NSW commuters hostage,” she said.

Transport Minister David Elliott said he was disappointed in the decision.

“Naturally, I’m disappointed at the decision given that I had general agreement with the union two months ago, and I appeal to them to consider commuters and the fragile economic recovery if they are planning further industrial action,” he said.

The government and unions have been at loggerheads over a $2.8 billion train fleet, which rail workers have refused to operate due to safety concerns.

While the two parties are closer to an agreement over the future of the trains, a series of different positions taken by the state government and a cavalcade of ministers becoming involved in the matter has inflamed negotiations in recent months.

The trains are designed to use CCTV cameras to survey platforms as they arrive and depart stations, but the unions want modifications made to the fleet allowing guards to physically poke their heads out of a door to undertake safety checks.

The government for years refused to make the modifications before last week backing down to the union demands and agreeing to make the changes at a cost of $260 million.

A letter outlining the government’s commitment to modify the intercity fleet, seen by the Herald, was signed by two ministers and sent to unions on Friday morning ahead of the hearings.

While the government last week made the major concession of agreeing to $260 million worth of modifications to the intercity fleet, unions had refused to budge in negotiations without a stronger written commitment.

The new letter was signed by ministers Natalie Ward and Natasha Maclaren-Jones, who are filling in for two holidaying portfolio ministers, in a late bid to improve negotiations.

Both sides made concessions ahead of the Fair Work Commission hearings last week, with the union on Thursday agreeing to ease action affecting the construction of the Metro rail project. The RTBU also agreed to lift bans on cleaning trains on Wednesdays and Fridays.

The Herald revealed last month that the cost of the City and Southwest Metro line had blown out due to the stalled industrial negotiations.

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