‘Difficult’ and ‘messy’: Sydney trains to undergo 4-day shutdown as negotiations stall

With the Rail, Tram, and Bus Union (RTBU) and the NSW government being unable to come to an agreement at the negotiation table, trains throughout Sydney will be temporarily shut down as workers commit to industrial action.

Characterised as a “difficult and messy” situation by Transport Minister Jo Haylen, the RTBU has instructed its members not to operate the Sydney train network from first thing Friday to Sunday morning as part of an industrial action.

“I want the negotiations to continue to make sure we can deliver essential services in New South Wales,” said Minister Haylen.

As reported by ABC News, Transport NSW is preparing alternative routes for daily commuters affected by the shutdown.

Talks between the parties involved have continued, as a compromise was found to delay the industrial action to Friday to ensure that people attending the Pearl Jam concert at Sydney Olympic Park had travel options.

However, the terms that sparked the industrial action are proving to foster very little cohesion between the parties involved.

In negotiations, the RTBU has requested a reduction in their hours and a pay increase of 32 per cent over four years, or 8 per cent per year – a request the NSW government has deemed “impossible”. To counter these requests, the government offered a three-year agreement totalling 9.5 per cent plus super.

Although the negotiations continue to stall, there has been an attempt from the parties to keep the conversations ongoing in hopes of getting commuters back on the trains. Despite this, a blame game over whose fault the commencement of the shutdown is has taken place across various media channels.

“Nobody wants this. I don’t want this, the government doesn’t want this, and passengers definitely don’t want this,” said Minister Haylen.

“But we’ve got to be very clear here that the actions are still in place for Friday and Saturday, causing potential massive disruption to our network and meaning that people can’t get where they need to go.”

The RTBU insisted on operating 24-hour train services throughout the weekend, but the government didn’t oblige, offering to run only the Strathfield to Hornsby line for 24 hours. RTBU secretary Toby Warnes claimed it was an example of the government choosing to shut the network down.

“This weekend would have been the perfect time to run 24-hour public transport, but rather than deliver services for the people of NSW, the NSW government is attempting to shut everything down,” Warnes said.

“Rail workers have everything possible to keep services running – that’s why we introduced the novel 24-hour transport action. We don’t want to impact commuters, but it seems the government does.”

To retort this notion, Minister Haylen stated that an extended timetable on top of the union’s other industrial actions is not sustainable.

“If we continue to try and run 24-hour services over the weekend, the fact is it will eventually lead [to] the failure of our rail network,” said Minister Haylen.

Both parties agreed that the goal in mind was to get a deal completed before the busy Christmas season commences, yet at this rate, the disagreements seem too large, much to the dismay of the one million daily commuters.