Sydney train disruptions loom for commuters despite better pay offer

The Minns government has upped its pay offer to thousands of rail workers in a bid to end a protracted wage dispute, a day before unions are due to start a series of work bans that threaten to cause service delays and cancellations on Sydney’s train network.

The offer presented to rail workers comprises a pay rise of 13 per cent over four years, as well as a 1 per cent increase from savings from the merger of Sydney Trains and regional operator NSW Trains and 1 per cent from legislated super increases.

The government has asked rail unions to give it an in-principle response by Thursday, and it intends to put the offer to a vote of the 13,000-strong rail workforce in the coming weeks. Rail unions have rejected a request to drop a series of major work bans due to come into effect on Wednesday.

Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the four-year offer presented to rail workers was “fair and reasonable” and represented the government’s wages offer plus an extra 1 per cent.

“It is above inflation and represents a real increase to take-home pay for rail workers,” she said.

It is the first time that the four-year offer to the entire rail workforce has been made public.

Rail Tram and Bus Union state secretary Toby Warnes (right) and other officials leave the Fair Work Commission on Tuesday.Credit: Dylan Coker

Rail Tram and Bus Union state secretary Toby Warnes said the extra 1 per cent offered by the government was based on about 100 job losses from combining Sydney Trains and NSW Trains.

“We’re very disappointed in that. There are plenty of efficiencies or productivity improvements the government could have gone with rather than simply proposing job losses,” he said.

Warnes said he was not rejecting the offer, but it was “very unlikely” that rail workers would accept it.

The offer is still substantially less than a 32 per cent pay rise over four years which six rail unions have been pressing for.

Transport Minister Jo Haylen outlines the government’s offer to rail workers on Tuesday.Credit: Dylan Coker

The government’s opening offer in the middle of last year was for wage rises of 9.5 per cent over three years, as well as a further 0.5 per cent in the first if a deal was reached in a “timely manner”.

Despite three days of conciliation hearings in the Fair Work Commission, Warnes said industrial action planned to start on Wednesday “absolutely remains on” and the RTBU’s campaign would continue until the government presented an offer its members were willing to accept.

After a truce between the two sides over the Christmas-New Year period, thousands of RTBU members will restart 10 major work bans on Wednesday.

A 23 km/h reduction in speeds by train crews on sections of track where trains can usually travel more than 80 km/h from Wednesday poses the greatest disruption to outer parts of the suburban rail system and intercity trains.

The union has placed a ban on members at Sydney Trains and NSW Trains working with contractors, while another will prevent work on reinstating train services if they have been cancelled.

Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland said the industrial action would result in an increased number of cancellations and services running slower, particularly on intercity and regional lines.

“We’ll also see a continuing degradation of fleet and infrastructure across the network,” he said.

The compounding impact of industrial action on the train network comes as more people return to work from the summer holidays.

Disruption to train services from industrial action is set to return to Sydney’s rail network.Credit: Steven Siewert

The RTBU has also launched legal action in the Federal Court against Sydney Trains for docking the pay of about 100 members who took part in partial work bans last month.

In court papers, the union argues that in some cases, staff who continued to work after a partial work ban had money deducted from their pay and that it was recorded as a “strike”.

A government spokesperson said actions that prevented a person from performing their role would result in their pay being docked. “If you don’t work, you won’t be paid,” she said.

About 60 per cent of Sydney Trains and NSW Trains’ 13,300 workers are RTBU members. The Electrical Trades Union, which is one of the six involved in the dispute, represents about 940 workers at the state-owned rail operators.

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