Despite being late for work, having navigated torrential rain and long train delays, Kate* made time to send a message to Sydney rail workers: “Come on guys, take the deal. It’s getting ridiculous, the impact is too great.”
She said everyone was suffering in the cost-of-living crisis and “we all want good wages”. The architect, who works in the central business district, said: “The impact is too huge for people, especially for those who don’t have a choice but to depend on the trains.”
Kate was referring to the combined rail unions’ demands for a 32% pay rise over four years, above the 15% offered by the New South Wales government. Her views were shared by others Guardian Australia spoke to at Central station on Thursday.
After commuters like Kate had battled through Thursday morning’s peak, the NSW premier, Chris Minns, announced his government had made an application to the Fair Work Commission to end the protected industrial action and move to an arbitrated decision.
“We will ask for that decision to be expedited and made urgently,” Minns said. “We don’t take that call lightly. It is a big call … for a Labor government to make.”
He accused the unions of putting a “noose around the public transport system while demanding more and more and more money”.
After the city’s rail network descended into chaos on Wednesday, commuters were braced for further delays and cancellations on Thursday morning.
Lengthy delays, service cancellations and long gaps between trains hit the network on Thursday.
Officials said 402 train services were cancelled and 28% of trains were running on time. There were 64 buses operating to supplement train services. Lines worst affected included the T1 North Shore and Western, T2 Leppington and Inner West, T3 Liverpool and Inner West, T8 Airport and South, Blue Mountains, South Coast and the Central Coast and Newcastle lines.
Kate said she had to take a bus and train to get to work. It added more than 30 minutes to her commute amid heavy rain lashing Sydney.
“It normally takes me around an hour to get to the CBD, but it’s taken me an hour and a half today, and that seemed pretty good considering some of the delays,” she said.
“We had buses stuck because of tree branches on the road, so there were delays everywhere. It turned out to be a pretty epic trip, just to get to work. It’s just exhausting.”
Alex*, a sales representative arriving in the city from Sydney’s south, said two consecutive days of delays had left him and his boss frustrated.
“It’s just getting to be too much. It sucks, I hate it, my boss hates it, we’re all frustrated. And now my boss is mad because I am late.”
He said he was delayed up to an hour on Thursday morning, after having sat on stations for “half an hour at a time” waiting for trains back home on Wednesday afternoon.
The delays were fraying public support for the unions, he said.
“Lots of people are turning against the union now, because it’s just disrupting normal people’s lives. What is it really doing for them? It doesn’t seem to impact anyone other than us, trying to get to work.”
The delays are a result of a range of industrial actions, including by members of the Electrical Trades Union, who refused to perform essential maintenance at Bondi Junction and Homebush stations.
Minns said the government’s improved offer – a 13% pay rise plus 1% efficiency rise and 1% super rise across four years – was “fair”.
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union labelled the government’s application to the commission a “desperate attempt to shift the blame for its own failure to negotiate with workers”.
In a statement, the union said: “For 44 days the government has failed to engage in a single bargaining meeting with the Combined Rail Unions.
“Instead of negotiating, the government is scapegoating rail workers, blaming them for economic disruption they themselves caused.”
A quieter-than-usual Central station reflected the likelihood that many workers chose to work from home if they could to avoid the inclement weather and industrial action.
Ally*, another city-based architect, was also late to work. The disruptions had made her commute from Ashfield much more difficult, she said.
“It’s deeply frustrating. It was frustrating yesterday and it’s frustrating today. I had to leave an hour early today … and I’m still late for work.
“You can feel people around here are turning against them [the unions]. It’s just too much disruption – my boyfriend had to miss multiple meetings yesterday. And it’s the first week back, so not ideal timing.”
Sydney Trains and Transport for NSW apologised for the delays on Wednesday. Just 4.7% of services ran on time or within five minutes of their timetable, they said, with 95% of services delayed or cancelled.
Ultimately, 1,913 services were cancelled and 1,035 services delayed by the end of Wednesday. Only one of 327 timetabled afternoon peak services ran on time.
* The people interviewed did not wish their full names to be published
