By Tom Rabe and Matt O'Sullivan
August 31, 2022 - 6.35pm
The NSW premier has declared war on the rail unions by threatening to drag them before the courts and tear up a multibillion-dollar safety commitment in a high stakes move that threatens to inflame wider negotiations with the state’s public sector workforce.
In a dramatic escalation in the long-running dispute, Dominic Perrottet on Wednesday issued rail unions with an ultimatum after the city’s public transport system was crippled amid industrial action on the rail and bus networks.
“This ends today. I will not have our city grind to a halt, our people inconvenienced any more by the actions of a union movement that belongs back in the 1970s,” he said. “The union is using our people as political pawns. They are not going to get away with it any more.”
After months of industrial action and failed bargaining attempts, Perrottet instructed Transport Minister David Elliott to deliver a final pay offer to rail workers, refusing to budge on the government’s wages cap.
If the 13,000-strong workforce votes against the offer, Perrottet warned his government would seek to terminate the rail unions’ existing enterprise agreement and tear up its $1 billion offer to modify the mothballed intercity fleet.
The same dramatic move by government will be taken if any further industrial action occurs across the Sydney rail network and at construction sites for new metro rail lines. Rolling industrial action was slated for the metro construction sites until September 10.
Perrottet ramped up his political attack on both the rail unions and state opposition, accusing NSW Labor of enabling the crippling industrial action. However, his comments came just a day after saying the Coalition and Labor were on a “unity ticket” against train strikes.
Rail, Tram and Bus Union state secretary Alex Claassens returned fire at the government, and said Elliott had lost the ability to “make any comment that’s rational or sensible” during a brief meeting on Wednesday.
“He was clearly under instructions from somebody to come in there and throw a grenade and deliberately pull the pin,” he said.
Unions NSW deputy secretary Thomas Costa said the government’s ultimatum on Wednesday would reverberate through the entire public sector and other union leaders were readying for their own negotiations to intensify.
“I think every union and every public sector worker is watching this very closely and developing their own strategy,” Costa said.
“They’re all dealing with the same problem, which is a government that refuses to listen or negotiate with its workforce. It’s [Perrottet’s] way or the highway - that will end in more strikes, not because we want to; when you dictate to a workforce, you leave them with no other option.”
Costa described Perrottet’s latest intervention as “shocking”, and said it came on a day when union delegates were expecting a potential breakthrough.
Despite the government’s warnings, University of Technology Sydney labour law professor Joellen Riley Munton said the Fair Work Commission was unlikely to terminate an enterprise agreement during a bargaining period.
“I would be very surprised if the Fair Work Commission would do that now at this particular point in time,” she said. “The mere fact that the bargaining parties have not been able to reach a new agreement yet will not in itself be enough to terminate the old agreement.”
In early July, Fair Work threw out the government’s application to suspend industrial action, rejecting “inexplicable” claims that it was harming the state’s economy.
Commuters were forced to avoid non-essential travel on Wednesday when the industrial action resulted in a 75 per cent cut in train services. Rail workers refused to operate foreign-built trains, which make up three-quarters of the state’s rail fleet.
Earlier this week the rail union told the government it would cease industrial action for at least a month in return for a pay rise 0.5 per cent above the public sector wages cap, as well as a binding commitment for modifications to the Korean-built intercity train fleet.
But Elliott said the government’s patience with the rail unions had worn out, and they had burnt any future negotiating opportunity.
“I backed them in every step of the way; they’ve shat on me from a great height,” he said of the unions.
Claassens also took aim at NSW Labor leader Chris Minns whom he accused of “playing games in the media”, calling on him to front delegates from six unions at an all-day meeting on Thursday.
Minns had earlier urged the government and unions to find an agreement to put an end to the industrial action.
“At this point, I’m not interested in throwing hand grenades at the NSW government. I just want an agreement. There’s plenty of time for politics at a later date,” he said.