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Sydney train strike planned for Monday to be suspended

The Fair Work Commission has ruled the train strike planned for Sydney on Monday is to be suspended, but afternoon services are still affected.

Brad Norington and Andrew Clennell
7 min read
1:40PMJanuary 25, 2018.
Updated 3:43PMJanuary 25, 2018
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Sydney train services slashed by 45%

Rail unions have been ordered to call off overtime bans that have cut Sydney’s train services in half and a planned strike for Monday that would have shut down the network across the state.

The Fair Work Commission today suspended all protected industrial action for two rail unions for six weeks, using powers under national workplace laws to halt strikes judged to be harmful to public safety or the economy.

However, the rail workers’ union has said that the current overtime ban will not be lifted until 6pm on Thursday.

“The ban on workers working overtime, which started at 12.01am this morning, will continue until 6pm tonight,’’ a union statement says.

“The impact the overtime ban is currently having on the system shows how reliant our system is on workers doing overtime.

The Rail Tram Bus Union representing NSW train drivers and the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers representing rail engineers would be exposed to millions of dollars in legal damages if they disobeyed the order and kept up industrial action in pursuit of a pay claim outside the NSW government’s maximum offer of 2.5 per cent.

FWC Deputy President Jonathan Hamberger said he was satisfied, based on evidence that the overtime bans and planned strike ‘threatens to endanger the welfare of a part of the population’, and ‘threatens to cause significant damage to the economy of Sydney’.

Under the Fair Work Act introduced by the Gillard government, a decision accepting that these two tests are met requires the FWC to suspend protected industrial action that is otherwise permitted during a bargaining period between employers and unions.

In response to the commission decision, ACTU secretary Sally McManus said the “right to strike in Australia is close to being dead”.

“Rail workers follow every single rule and law and still the Minister of the day can cancel even bans on working their excessive overtime,’’ Ms McManus said on social media.

RTBU national secretary Bob Nanva echoed her comments saying: “today marks the death of the right to strike in Australia”.

“Australia already has some of the most restrictive industrial laws in the world when it comes to the rights of workers to withhold their labour,’’ he said.

“The Fair Work Commission has said workers cannot strike even when they have complied with these restrictive laws. Australian workers are being treated like second-class citizens in their own country.”

Earlier, legal counsel for Sydney Trains, Michael Seck, told the commission that overtime bans which started at midnight had forced management to use a Saturday timetable today resulting in a 50 per cent reduction to normal weekday services.

He said the 24-hour strike proposed for Monday would have stopped all trains, endangering public safety and causing harm to part of the economy.

Mr Seck said the commission must act if it accepted these conditions had been met.

While proceedings starting at 8am dragged on until a short adjournment and commission decision at 1.20 PM to suspend all rail union action until March 8, negotiations between management and unions continued in another part of the city.

So far the unions have rejected a management offer of a 2.75 per cent rise, a one-off $1000 cash payment and other concessions such as free public transport travel for rail staff.

All up, the offer has been valued at 3.75 per cent a year over three years. A survey of union members by text was used to justify the rejection of the offer with just 5 per cent of members responding.

The original union claim was for three lots of 6 per cent over three years.

Mr Hamberger said he hoped that management and the unions would use the time between now and March to reach a settlement.

The Sydney Trains management position was backed in proceedings today by the NSW government, with legal counsel Michael Easton saying the commission was required to halt industrial action based on harm to public safety and the economy.

While the Government is responsible overall for the state’s rail network, Sydney & NSW Trains is the employer and directly involved in negotiations.

If Monday’s strike proceeded, it would be the first in 18 years.

Workers can strike in March if the issue is still not resolved.

The decision comes as the executive director of Sydney Trains warned Sydney’s major CBD train stations may be forced to shut down during this afternoon’s peak hour over congestion concerns,

At a press conference held at Central Station this morning Tony Eid told reporters that while commuters had experienced relatively smooth journeys to work they should expect lengthy delays and congestion this evening, especially at Wynyard, Town Hall, Central and Parramatta stations.

“We might have to close down platforms or even, for that matter, shut down a station, in a worst-case scenario,” Mr Eid told reporters.

“What we’re asking people is to be patient. We will do everything we can in our power to get everybody as home as quick as we can. “

“We want to make sure we do that safely....and want to make sure that everybody gets home at a respectable hour.”

Mr Eid told reporters Sydney Trains had deployed an additional 70 security guards across the rail network today and train drivers, guards and administrative employees were working overtime to “keep the people moving.”

“Today, we have had a lot of people come to work and it’s their overtime shift, they want to move Sydney like the rest of us.”

Earlier, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian joined talks with union leaders in a bid to head off Sydney’s full train strike on Monday.

With chaos already on Sydney services after an overtime ban today saw 50 per cent of services cancelled, Ms Berejiklian is understood to have joined Transport Minister Andrew Constance in talks with Rail Tram and Bus Union boss Alex Claassens and other union bosses and delegates.

In the meeting this morning, Mr Constance is said to have asked Mr Claasens “just tell me what you want in terms of wages and conditions.”

Mr Claasens is said to have responded: “don’t put me in that position with my members.”

Mr Constance told The Australian this morning: “This is a strike without a cause and they should call it off.”

The talks go on as the government tries to have Monday’s strike called off in the Fair Work Commission. A result from the commission should be known by midday.

Mr Constance has previously been absent from negotiations with the unions and left it to his department boss Rodd Staples and Sydney Trains boss Howard Collins.

Packed platforms, crowded trains

Sydney’s transport network was stretched to its limits this morning after 1300 services were cancelled.

Peak hour services were running every 15 minutes instead of every eight.

Transport NSW Coordinator General Marg Prendergast said today was going to be very difficult for Sydney commuters. “Today is going to be so difficult,” Ms Prendergast told 2GB radio. “We aren’t going to sugar coat it, today we’ve got a major reduction in service. Normally we run about 2,900 services a day, we’ll be running about 1,600 today. We’re worried about the airport, so we’ve got some buses out there.”

Parramatta station was thrown into chaos as commuters packed like sardines into carriage and many left stranded on the platform.

Many Sydneysiders appear to have taken an extra day off or altered their travel plans to avoid the timetable problems.

David Foggo spoke to The Australian from an almost deserted platform at Circular Quay. He had caught the ferry from his home in Balmain and was preparing to travel by train to his workplace in Mascot.

“I know it’s meant to be reduced services but I haven’t had any problems,” Mr Foggo said. “They’ve had to turn the timetables around a bit, so yes, it’s annoying but not unsolvable.”

Mr Foggo, who plans to drive to work on Monday says his colleague and friend who lives in Parramatta will work from home on Monday. “If he drives on Monday he’ll have to leave at about 4am to avoid peak hour, so our workplace is flexible.”

It was a similar story at Sydney’s Wynyard and Central stations, where commuters were ushered along by additional security staff. While, trains on the City Circle Line appeared full, crowd sizes were not out of the ordinary for peak travel times.

Georgia May from Surry Hills, who spoke to The Australian at Central Station said she didn’t “understand what all the fuss was about.”

Ms May, who works for an insurance company in Chatswood said she had woken up extra early and rushed to catch the train.

“I woke up earlier than usual because my work told us to prepare for the worst,” Ms May said. “I’m annoyed now, because I’m going to have an extra hour to kill.” “It’s been fine.”

While, some disgruntled commuters on western lines tweeted tales of their jam-packed journeys, others travelling to the city from the North Shore reported near-empty “ghost carriages,” suggesting some people took note of the warnings and made alternative travel arrangements.

Uber recorded surge prices for trips into and around the city, with the app is saying “fares are slightly higher due to increased demand”.

The developer of The TripView smartphone app which shows Sydney transport times including rail services says the app is being updated to show the revised timetables during the strike.

“TripView was updated yesterday morning with the timetable for today. There will be another timetable update today or tomorrow with the changes for Monday,” app developer Nick Maher said.

With Emily Ritchie, Olivia Caisley, Ewin Hannan

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/packed-platforms-crowded-trains-traffic-queues/news-story/155529534fb8d852135cda3d26adeaa7