NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet delivers transport strike ultimatum

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has delivered an ultimatum to striking rail unions, saying he will shred an industrial agreement if the government’s final offer is not accepted.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet on Wednesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has delivered an ultimatum to striking rail unions, saying he will shred an industrial agreement if the government’s final offer is not accepted and blasting the conduct of union officials as “absolutely disgusting”.

Months of industrial action have paralysed Sydney’s rail network, and after another day of strikes left commuters stranded, Mr Perrottet said he had instructed Transport Minister David ­Elliott to make a “final offer” ­during a planned meeting on Wednesday.

“What we saw this morning was absolutely disgraceful … This ends today, it will not continue,” Mr Perrottet said while conceding he regretted not implementing a take-it-or-leave-it approach six months ago.

“I will not have our city grind to a halt (or) our people inconvenienced any more by the actions of a union movement that belongs back in the 1970s.”

If the Rail Tram and Bus Union launched any industrial action before the enterprise agreement was resolved, or if the government’s current offer was rejected, Mr Perrottet said any deal would be taken to the Fair Work Commission.

“Any action from this point today, until that enterprise agreement is voted on, we will seek to terminate immediately. And it will be off the table. And we’ll have the FWC resolve this dispute,” he said.

Mr Perrottet said through 58 meetings with union officials, the government had offered “concession after concession after concession” to no avail.

He said the government’s offer to remedy safety issues on the state’s new fleet of Korean-made trains would be rescinded if the offer was rejected.

“We made that concession for one reason only, and that was to get the trains on the tracks. And for there to be no industrial action going forward,” he said.

“To be in a position now where every single attempt to resolve this issue, another issue arises: it is very clear, in my view, the government’s view and the people of NSW’s view, that the union is using our people as political pawns. They are not going to get away with it anymore.”

With the March election looming, Mr Elliott said he would “relish” a campaign fought with Labor over industrial action, accusing the six rail unions of negotiating disingenuously and having no intention of resolving the ongoing stand-off.

“They shat on me from a great height … And you know what, I’m happy to fight the next seven months of this campaign based on railway worker union action on union thuggery,” Mr Elliott said.

With senior Liberals trying to connect Labor leader Chris Minns with the commuter chaos, on Wednesday morning the ­Opposition Leader claimed that his calls to RBTU secretary Alex Claassens had gone ­unanswered.

“I’ve tried to call him, obviously I have,” Mr Minns said.

“I can’t speculate. Obviously he’s in the middle of negotiations with the NSW government.”

Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Claassens took aim at “boofhead politicians”, claiming the incen­diary language of senior gov­ernment ministers was resulting in threats against rail workers.

“Over the last couple of days, the comments made by certain politicians and their mates, the shock jocks, have perpetuated a bunch of actions against our members,” he said. “It has to stop, and it has to stop today.”