{"id":159484,"date":"2024-12-19T10:14:29","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T00:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=159484"},"modified":"2024-12-19T10:15:00","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T00:15:00","slug":"christmas-warning-looms-for-sydney-commuters-after-rail-unions-history-making-vote-for-industrial-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=159484","title":{"rendered":"Christmas warning looms for Sydney commuters after rail union\u2019s \u2018history-making\u2019 vote for industrial action"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman has warned commuters to brace for a \u201ccatastrophe\u201d this Christmas after the rail union approved further industrial action despite an 11th injunction lodged by the state government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Australian Rail, Train, and Bus Union (RTBU) was set to notify Sydney Trains on Monday evening that it would take further industrial action from December 28, following a Protected Action Ballot approved by members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RTBU president Craig Turner heralded the vote in a Facebook video on Monday as \u201cunbelievable\u201d and \u201chistory making for this union\u201d, claiming 81 per cent of Sydney Trains members had voted to take protected action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the exact nature of the industrial action is not yet known, Mr Speakman said businesses and commuters in Sydney deserve more than the \u201cindustrial chaos\u201d that loomed over the holiday break.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman has warned of a \u2018catastrophe\u2019 this Christmas for commuters. Picture: NewsWire \/ Nikki Short<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

RTBU president Craig Turner claimed 81 per cent of Sydney Trains members had voted to take protected action from December 28. Picture: NewsWire \/ Simon Bullard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis has come about because of outrageous union demands and a weak government. Chris Minns went to the election encouraging expectations of significant public sector wage increases,\u201d Mr Speakman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe has inflated the expectations of the union bosses, and now he can\u2019t afford to do the deals they are demanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a government controlled by unions \u2026 they want their pound of flesh and Chris Minns can\u2019t deliver\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The RTBU has been in protracted negotiations with Minns government for a 32 per cent pay rise over four years and 24-hour rail services between Thursday and Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, no agreement has been reached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Premier earlier this month sought an injunction to stop further industrial action after a last-minute pledge for further negotiations scuttled an earlier attempt by the powerful rail union to undertake industrial action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, Mr Minns said that \u201cafter two weeks of negotiations we have not been able to come to a fair deal with the combined rail unions\u201d and that \u201cdaily exhaustive negotiations have not resulted in a breakthrough\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"NSW<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

NSW Shadow Transport Minister Natalie Ward called the negotiations a \u2018muppet show\u2019. Picture: NewsWire \/ Nikki Short<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shadow Transport Minister Natalie Ward accused the Premier of being \u201cmissing in action\u201d and that the state government\u2019s negotiations were a \u201cMuppet show\u201d, with a new person in charge of negotiations each week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople have had a tough year. They deserve the transport system to be running. And, what we don\u2019t know from the government is what\u2019s on the table or what\u2019s off the table,\u201d Ms Ward said on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow the Premier\u2019s not even returning phone calls from the union. He\u2019s abandoned this whole negotiation. The Transport Minister is stepping in and out. No one\u2019s in charge, and the trains won\u2019t be running. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a disaster and chaos caused by this government, who has had months to get this in order. They\u2019ve known since May that the agreement was to be completed. They\u2019ve had months to sort this out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve left it minutes to midnight before New Year\u2019s Eve, and commuters are paying the price. The lethal combination of ministerial incompetence and industrial tourism is holding commuters hostage again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Premier<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Premier Chris Minns said negotiations had failed to find a \u2018fair deal\u2019. Picture: NewsWire \/ Gaye Gerard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If in charge, Mr Speakman said he would have had a negotiation plan in place and would \u201cbe looking at taking the unions to the Fair Work Commission\u201d, which he said could stop certain industrial action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposed action could see the number of kilometres members travel each shift gradually reduced, including New Years Eve when Mr Turner told 2GB the level of service would depend on the government\u2019s response. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrains will be running; it depends on what actions we put on. We haven\u2019t come up with what we\u2019re going to do \u2026 We\u2019re hoping for everyone, especially for people in NSW, the premier calls us and gets this job done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transport Minister Jo Hayken on Tuesday said \u201cthe government\u2019s position here is very clear, no level of industrial action is tolerable this time of the yearly given how tough it\u2019s been for families and businesses\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need New Year\u2019s Eve to run well, and we need each and every one of those public transport services to be available to get the millions of people in and out of our city safely,\u201d Ms Haylen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow, the government will absolutely pursue all legal options available to us to ensure that we protect passengers and protect businesses this New Year\u2019s Eve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the negotiations, Treasurer Daniel Moohkey said the state government was \u201cnot in a position\u201d to cough up the 32 per cent pay rise called upon by the RTBU, and negotiations were also ongoing with other workforces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It comes after the combined train union returned to court after an 11th hour injunction filed by Sydney and NSW Trains to stop further industrial action, with Justice Michael Wheelahan to give judgment later this week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"RTBU<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

RTBU secretary Toby Warnes and Logo division secretary Farren Campbell at the Federal Court in Sydney. Picture: NewsWire \/ Gaye Gerard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lawyer for the rail entities told the court previously authorised industrial action was no longer protected because negotiations now included multiple employers under a single interest employer authorisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSydney and NSW Trains have taken us to court, ordered by the Minns government to try and crush us and stop us having proper industrial action,\u201d union boss Mr Turner said in an earlier Facebook video Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside court on Monday, RTBU NSW secretary Toby Warnes told the media \u201cthe effect of what the Minns government is doing is attacking the bargaining system that is used by employees across the country\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we are seeing today is absolutely disgraceful against workers all across the country \u2026 On the ground, we\u2019ve seen a lot of anger and disappointment, and a real resolve to keep going until we get a fair deal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transport for NSW has been contacted for comment regarding the proposed industrial action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

News.COM.AU<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aussies in one state are being warned to brace for a \u201ccatastrophe\u201d this Christmas after hundreds of rail workers voted to strike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":159486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,2695],"tags":[5026,2139],"class_list":["post-159484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rail-news","category-sydney-trains","tag-nsw","tag-sydney"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=159484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":159490,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159484\/revisions\/159490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/159486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=159484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=159484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=159484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}