‘Uptick in sick leave’: Sydney rail workers accused of illegal action as train chaos lingers

The Minns government is accusing rail workers of taking illegal unprotected industrial action after what it labelled “a significant uptick in sick leave” on Friday as hundreds of train services were cancelled during a day of chaos on Sydney’s rail network.

Delays were likely to continue on Saturday morning ahead of yet another showdown in the NSW Fair Work Commission (FWC) at 11.15am, after the government lost a last-minute bid to force the NSW Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) to halt industrial action.

While FWC president Adam Hatcher recommended the union cease action ahead of a separate conciliation meeting on Monday, he stopped short of granting the government’s request to “stop this merry-go-round” by granting a pause on industrial action because the union had not been given time to respond.

Instead, two hearings were set down – one for Saturday morning and another for Wednesday. On Saturday the government will try to stop rail workers taking what it says is unprotected action after hundreds stayed home on Friday.

After negotiations broke down on Thursday night, Transport for NSW sent communications to about 5000 employees that they would be docked pay if they engaged in planned go-slow industrial action. The RTBU responded by telling its members they did not need to report for work. Some union members went further, with one convener, Adam Doyle, telling train drivers to “f--- the network up”.

Some 576 workers had failed to report for work by 2pm, the number growing as the day progressed. Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland said there had been “a very significant uptick in sick leave”.

Internal Sydney Trains data showed the proportion of train services running on time had fallen to zero by noon. By the middle of the afternoon more than 800 services had been cancelled and another 396 were delayed.

As frustration grew, the government and the unions were pointing the blame at each other. Late on Thursday reporters had gathered outside Parliament House, where both parties were meeting as word filtered out that a deal was close.

But a final tipping point scuttled the deal. A $4500 bonus agreed to by the former Coalition government in 2022, when they were last negotiating with the RTBU, had been inserted as a “one-off” payment. It had not come up during nine months of negotiation, but the union tried to use it as a bargaining tactic to increase their pay offer.

NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey, a former union official, accused the RTBU of orchestrating a “sneak strike in support of a wild claim”.

“To turn up five minutes to midnight and spring a claim for $4500 extra is bad faith,” he said.

The union, however, said the government and Transport NSW had failed to express plans to remove the bonus payment.

“If Transport wanted to remove that clause they should have put it on the table nine months ago. You can’t just delete parts of the enterprise agreement willy-nilly,” RTBU boss Toby Warnes said.

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