All passenger trains in Sydney scheduled for Monday were cancelled and hundreds of commuters left stranded amid an escalating industrial dispute.
The standoff between the New South Wales (NSW) government and the rail workers’ union resulted in the suspension of services, with the union accusing the government of suspending trains as part of a “dummy spit”.
Speaking to the media at a press conference on Monday, Alex Claassens, the secretary of Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) said the breakdown in negotiations was caused by a disagreement over two words - “altered working” - in the enterprise agreement between the two parties.
“There was still a lot of confusion around an item called ‘altered working’,” he said, according to news.com.au. “So two little words, which mean a lot for railway people and for obviously lawyers – they can’t get their head around it – and obviously for the managers of this railway, unfortunately.”
This was “really disappointing because we all understand what altered working is”, he said. “That is the working that is provided to people when they start their shift, working that has been given to them days in advance so they know what they are doing during the course of their shift.”
Mr Claassens said that the RTBU and the NSW government had initially come to an agreement on Saturday night, leading to the union agreeing to drop some of the industrial actions it had planned for Monday. But a call on Sunday night, saying that the government was again trying to end the enterprise agreement, shocked the workers, said Mr Claassens.
The government and the workers are at loggerheads, with the latter wanting a commitment from authorities that no train services will be lost in the event of privatisation, along with a guarantee that changes to services will leave them safer while maintaining the existing level of hygiene.
From Monday, the workers will be on a two-week-long ban on “altered working”, meaning workers only perform the shifts they are set without changes.
Transport minister David Elliott conceded on Monday that there had been a “misinterpretation” on part of the government about Saturday’s deal, The Guardian reported.
Railway officials have warned that “mass disruption” could impact transport services on Tuesday as well, according to the Australian Associated Press.
“This is a difficult period, regardless of the outcome … we do expect some impact over this two-week period,” Matthew Longland, the chief executive of Sydney Trains said on Monday evening. “The advice to customers is avoid rail travel if you can.”
Meanwhile, a hearing to resolve the crisis, which began at the Fair Work Commission in Sydney on Monday, has been adjourned till Wednesday, an RTBU spokesperson said.
