Sydney train delays continue as union refuses to bend the knee

Another day, another train delay: The Rail, Tram, and Bus Union (RTBU) has continued its protected industrial action today (15 January), telling its members to operate the trains at 23 kilometres in 80-kilometre zones, leading to mass delays and shutdowns.

As negotiations continue to stall between the RTBU and Josh Murray, secretary of transport for NSW, major protected actions have kicked off again by union members scattered across the Sydney Trains circuit.

Last night (Tuesday, 14 January), RTBU president Craig Turner and divisional secretary Farren Campbell shared a video message with their members on Facebook, calling upon them to commit to a reduction in kilometres. This instruction asked any crew who were operating trains in 80-kilometre speed zones to drop down to just 23 kilometres.

This action, of course, sparked mass delays this morning (Wednesday, 15 January), with The Sydney Morning Herald reporting that some trains ran more than 120 minutes late. Along with the speed reductions, delays, service cancellations, and large service gaps occurred on the north shore, eastern suburbs, Illawarra, and airport lines.

Exacerbating the issue was a ban by the Electrical Trades Union (ETU), which prevented maintenance on critical points of both the Bondi Junction and Homebush stations.

In terms of the status of the pay negotiations, the RTBU originally requested a pay increase of 32 per cent over four years – or 8 per cent per year – a request the NSW government slammed as “impossible”. Now, the government has replied with a 15 per cent rise over four years – however, this increase is based on a merger that could result in job losses.

For that reason, as reported by The Guardian, Toby Warnes, NSW secretary of RTBU, wasn’t incredibly stoked with the offer, saying: “We’re a little bit perturbed by the fact that the government only managed to find 1 per cent in savings from it, and that those 1 per cent only came from job losses."

“So that’s obviously something we’re not extremely happy about. I don’t think 13 per cent over four years is going to cut it." said Warnes.

Another issue that the RTBU had was the conditions of the offer. According to Turner and Campbell, in order for the various conditions of the negotiations to move forward, “the union must sacrifice and give up clause 35A”.

“This clause enshrines the important process of risk assessments being conducted by workers. Now, that removal of a safety claim should be an absolute outrage to every member out there,” said Campbell.

The union has staunchly pushed against the narrative that its members are failing to band together. This was an agenda that Matt Longland, chief executive of Sydney Trains, expressed claiming that the previous protected actions posed little to no issue for commuters.

“The problem is that Matt Longland got on there in the press conference and said the last time we did it on the 28th and the 29th, there [were] hardly any services that were affected,” said Turner.

“So, we’re asking all our members, make sure you do the actions. This government and Transport for New South Wales think that you’ll give up on everything, and that’s how they’re going to use it. So, get out there and do your job and follow those protected actions.”

“The government nearly got on their knees and asked us to drop all those actions, and we stated our members will not be dropping any actions again.”

This defiance and angst from the union are set to continue as its industrial actions calendar has a planned action this Friday and every weekday from 20 to 24 January.