Despite ongoing industrial action by Sydney Train workers, Sydney commuters had a rude shock this morning discovering that more than 300 trains had been cancelled before 6am.
According to the ABC, more than 208 rail workers have not shown up to their Monday shift, resulting in many services being cancelled.
Transport Minister John Graham noted that although the trains will attempt to run on time, cancellations and delays are inevitable.
“We’re encouraging people to continue to check the apps and we’ll update regularly update after,” he said.
On Sunday, the NSW government attempted to stop the Rail, Train and Bus Union (RTBU) from continuing its industrial action. It claimed to the Fair Work Commission that the RTBU used a “coordinated effort” to create network disruption by an “unprecedented” amount of staff members not showing up to work on Friday last week in an illegal unprotected industrial action.
However, the Fair Work Commission found no evidence to support this claim. As a result, the industrial action continued, severely impacting the transport services during Monday’s morning commute.
RTBU’s NSW Secretary Toby Warnes cast his blame on the NSW Government for any delays felt by commuters.
“The NSW Government is responsible for the uncertainty we experienced on Friday and it will be responsible for any uncertainty we experience this week,” he said, per News.com.au.
“The NSW Government has the ability to ensure train services run smoothly this week. We’re urging them to give commuters certainty and not to deliberately disrupt the network.”
Warnes told the press that all that stood between striking an agreement with the RTBU and the NSW government was a one-off payment of $4,500 for workers.
“We all but had a deal done last Thursday night. All but had a deal,” Mr Warnes said.
“There’s been much said about the one-off payment that exists within our enterprise agreement. In reality, that’s all that stands between us.”
However, Grahman claimed the government could not afford the one-off payment.
“This has taken so many twists and turns over the course of this dispute. At one point it was about 50 cent fares, then it was about 24-hour running, now it’s about a $4,500 one-off payment,” he told ABC Radio Sydney.
“What we can offer is fair pay and conditions and if we can get down to that issue … that is something we are prepared to offer, that’s something we can get down to.”
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