Tudehope blasts Burke for improper influence in rail dispute

Industrial Relations Minister Damien Tudehope has blasted federal counterpart Tony Burke, alleging he has tried to improperly influence a member of the Fair Work Commission over the NSW rail dispute.

NSW Industrial Relations Minister Damien Tudehope. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Flavio Brancaleone

As the NSW rail dispute heads to court, the state’s Industrial Relations Minister Damien Tudehope has blasted federal counterpart Tony Burke, alleging he has tried to improperly influence a member of the Fair Work Commission, a criminal offence with penalties of up to 12 months in jail.

Mr Burke wrote to commission president Iain Ross on Friday revealing the federal government would seek to limit the ability of employers to unilaterally apply to the commission for termination of an enterprise agreement.

Federal Employment and Workplace Minister Tony Burke. Picture: Martin Ollman/Getty Images

The move followed threats by NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet to tear up the existing rail agreement if the union engaged in any more of the industrial action that has caused chaos for Sydney commuters in recent months.

Mr Perrottet said if the government’s “final offer” was rejected he would rescind a $1bn offer to modify the state’s new intercity train fleet and terminate the existing labour agreements for thousands of rail workers.

After the rail union filed a last minute application with the FWC seeking to bring the government back to the table, its lawyers said on Friday the union would not take any action before the hearing.

The standoff is set for a showdown in court on Tuesday morning, when the FWC will decide if the NSW government can unilaterally retract the enterprise agreement.

Mr Tudehope said the government’s position was that the enterprise agreement should be put to rail employees for a vote, but Mr Burke’s letter was “sending a message to the unions that the federal government has backed them in”. He pointed to s.674 (5) of the Fair Work Act which states that “a person commits an offence by using words that are intended to improperly influence … an FWC member or a person attending before the FWC”.

“There is an argument that this is clearly an attempt to intervene or influence a member of the Fair Work Commission,” Mr Tudehope said. “That puts Mr Burke potentially in breach of the Fair Work Act and for which criminal penalties apply up to 12 months in jail.

“It’s all very well to have an opinion but to actually sit down to write a letter to the president of the Fair Work Commission has implications. He wants the Fair Work Commission to take his view into account before there’s any legislation approved by the parliament.

“The only people who know what is proposed are the politicians and potentially the union movement and what I’ll say to Mr Burke is: the Fair Work Commission is not an arm of the Labor Party. It’s supposed to be an independent tribunal to adjudicate disputes between parties based on what the law is at the time – not on what he wants it to be.”

Federal Skills Minister Brendan O' Connor. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

Federal Skills Minister Brendan O’Connor told the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday that Mr Burke’s intervention had nothing to do with the NSW rail dispute but was simply “foreshadowing our intent and we know there may well be employers that may seek to terminate agreements before the legislation”.

Mr O’Connor said the issue had already been raised by the government in the Svitzer Towage dispute after the NSW government was looking to terminate an agreement that would have reduced tugboat workers’ wages by 40 per cent.

“The Premier called these people heroes. That was the first time I think minister Burke then raised concerns about that, rightly. I think the letter has just been a foreshadowing of our intent to the Fair Work Commission.”