Rail unions say they will put counteroffer to stave off Sydney train chaos, but there’s a catch

Rail unions say they will drop industrial action that threw Sydney’s train network into chaos this week and make a counteroffer on pay and conditions to the Minns Labor government if it withdraws legal action in the Fair Work Commission.

In a letter to the premier and senior ministers on Friday, the Combined Rail Unions said they would withdraw work bans and discuss a counteroffer in a conciliation hearing if the government drops its case before Fair Work to permanently stop industrial action and force it into arbitration.

Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the government would consider a counteroffer if it was put in writing, but emphasised that it was pursuing its Section 424 application under the Fair Work Act.

Commuters pile into a packed train at Kogarah during the morning peak on Wednesday amid high cancellations due to industrial action. Credit: Kate Geraghty

“Now, if the union was to come to us with a written offer that responds to the government offer, of course … we would meet with them and discuss it with them,” she said on Friday.

“However, right now, passengers have a 92 or 93 per cent on-time running reliability on our suburban rail network [on Friday] because of the action the government has taken, and the reprieve provided by the Fair Work Commission.”

At a hastily convened Fair Work hearing on Thursday night, the state’s rail unions were ordered to stop their protected industrial action on an interim basis until a final decision is made at a full hearing next Wednesday and Thursday.

Transport Minister Jo Haylen at a press conference on Friday.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

UTS workplace law expert Giuseppe Carabetta said Fair Work had limited powers to intervene, and could do so only if a dispute reaches “crisis” levels and causes significant harm to the economy or poses a risk to community health and safety.

“The ALP has recently introduced new powers for Fair Work over ‘intractable’ bargaining disputes, but the indications to date are that the Fair Work tribunal is still reluctant to intervene,” he said.

Haylen conceded the “threshold is high” to convince Fair Work to intervene, but the government was preparing evidence to bolster its case of the “incalculable” hit to the economy and community harm.

She said the cost of cancelling a weekend of rail repair work alone could be up to $10 million. “There is a large cumulative cost to these industrial actions,” she said.

The government has offered rail workers a 14 per cent pay rise over four years, which includes a 1 per cent rise from savings from merging the state’s two passenger rail operators. Haylen has said that it was a “final pay offer”.

The Rail Tram and Bus Union and five other unions have been seeking a 32 per cent pay rise over four years.

As NSW’s railway recovers from crippling industrial action, train services on the suburban rail network recovered to 93 per cent on-time running on Friday morning, a vast improvement on the two prior days, when more than 2500 trains were cancelled.

Six intercity trains on the Central Coast and Newcastle line were cancelled on Friday morning due to earlier delays to safety-critical work at Gosford.

Commuters at Wynyard Station on Thursday.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland said it was pleasing to see performance improve across the rail network, but the operator was facing challenges that would take time to resolve.

“This isn’t something you can flick a switch on. Fleet reliability, infrastructure reliability and also the record number of temporary speed restrictions across the network … are slowing our services,” he said.

More than 50 temporary speed restrictions were in place across the train network on Friday due to a build-up of missed maintenance.

On Friday morning, commuters vented their frustration after two days of commuting hell. Many Sydneysiders were late to work, missed shifts, or just stayed at home to avoid the chaos this week.

Axel Greer chose to drive to work on Thursday to avoid the train chaos, after it took him three hours to reach Blacktown from Marrickville the previous day. “But I’d heard they’ve cancelled the strike, so I’m back on the train today,” he said at Strathfield station on Friday.

Asked about the industrial dispute, he admitted he had not been following it closely. “But I do think it’s unreasonable, especially given other public sector pay,” he said.

Cleaner Punam Adhikari, who commutes from Harris Park to Epping, said the pay increase sought by rail workers was “too much”.

She said the delays to train services caused by the industrial action were unreasonable for people who rely on public transport to get to work. “If we’re late, we are threatened with dismissal,” she said.

The state government is considering giving commuters refunds or a free travel day as compensation for this week’s extreme delays.

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