The NSW government is hoping the Fair Work Commission will end a long-running standoff with the rail unions over a new pay deal as industrial action causes havoc for Sydney commuters for a second day.
On Thursday, the premier, Chris Minns, said his government had lodged an application to the Fair Work Commission to end the unions’ protected industrial action and move to an arbitrated decision.
Minns accused the unions of putting a “noose around the public transport system while demanding more and more and more money”, and said the government had acted with the union in “good faith”.
“We will ask for that decision to be expedited and made urgently by the commission,” Minns told reporters on Thursday morning. “We don’t take that call lightly. It is a big call … for a Labor government to make.”
The commission has scheduled a directions hearing for Thursday afternoon, where it is expected it will set a date for the hearing.
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union has labelled the government’s application to the commission a “desperate attempt to shift the blame for its own failure to negotiate with workers.”
“For 44 days, the government has failed to engage in a single bargaining meeting with the Combined Rail Unions,” the union said in a statement.
“Instead of negotiating, the government is scapegoating rail workers, blaming them for economic disruption they themselves caused. The real cost to the economy isn’t the industrial action – it’s the government’s refusal to negotiate a fair deal.”
The government’s announcement comes after industrial action by the union – as part of the combined rail unions’ demands for the government to provide for a 32% pay rise over four years – saw commuters face 402 train cancellations on Thursday morning after a day of disruption on Wednesday.
The government said more than 1,000 trains were expected to be cancelled by the end of Thursday and significant cancellations and delays could be expected on Friday.
The chief executive of Sydney Trains, Matt Longland, said service disruptions may worsen in the afternoon.
“We do expect that we’ll see that again today, hopefully not to the same extent as yesterday,” he said.
after newsletter promotion
He said disruptions were worse in the inner-west and services that connect through the Blue Mountains and Parramatta.
This week’s industrial action came as the combined rail unions considered an improved pay offer from the state government, with the deadline to decide on Thursday.
Eight months into negotiations for a new pay deal, and amid proceedings in the Fair Work Commission and federal court, NSW transport minister Jo Haylen announced an offer of an improved 13% pay rise plus 1% efficiency rise and 1% super rise across four years – much lower than the combined rail unions’ demands of 32% over four years.
“We have put a very fair and reasonable offer on the table … However, unfortunately, their commentary in the media and elsewhere has been that they are not supportive of that fair and reasonable offer,” Haylen told reporters on Thursday.
A reporter asked Minns on Thursday if the dispute is proof the government is “not as good at working with unions as you thought”, after running on an election platform of public sector pay rises.
“Every Labor government in NSW has had them,” Minns responded. “What I did promise in the election campaign is that when they occurred, we would always act on behalf of the interests of people, the people of NSW and I believe that’s what we’ve done.”
