Sydney train strikes: Commuters spared more chaos as rail union calls off industrial action over pay dispute

Industrial action that has crippled Sydney’s rail network in recent weeks will pause until March after unions dropped hundreds of work bans.

The NSW Minns Government has taken rail unions to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) in a bid to ban any further strike action, which comes amid an ongoing, bitter pay dispute, and force representatives into arbitration.

State transport authorities had applied to the Commission to quash the action on the grounds the work bans were causing significant economic harm.

At a hearing on Wednesday, all six combined rail unions advised the FWC they would withdraw their plans for industrial action until further notice. Rail workers would, continue other non-disruptive actions such as wearing union badges.

A NSW Government spokesperson said “this is a significant and welcomed development”.

The Electrical Trades Union (ETU), however, has only paused its bans until March 31.

“This means that the notified hourly stoppages could still go ahead. This uncertainty is intolerable,” the spokesperson said.

The Nightly has approached the NSW branch of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union and ETU for comment.

Rail unions used a similar withdrawal tactic before New Year’s Eve — after its planned action threatened to plunge revellers’ first hours of the new year into chaos — which prompted the Government to apply to have the action thrown out under Section 424 of the Fair Work Act.

Although some unions withdrew their actions, the state Government has refused to drop its case to have the strikes ruled unlawful.

Premier Minns told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday his government had “a strong case” to prove the economic harms of the ongoing strikes, but would not be drawn to speculate on the hearing outcomes.

“I’m not going to pre-judge them or suggest that they’re going to make a decision one way or the other,” he said.

“What I can say is that with the exception of the Electrical Trade Union, all of the other unions have given an undertaking to the commission that they won’t re-lodge the bans that they’ve pursued that caused a lot of widespread delays across the public transport network.”

Mr Minns described the withdrawal as a “breakthrough that we’ve been waiting for for a long time” and said his Government remains hopeful to reach a pay agreement through adjudication.

“We’re not going it hand a blank cheque over to the unions that are asking for it,” he said.

The Electrical Trades Union is one of six unions in negotiations with the Government over a proposed pay rise for rail workers. Its members conduct critical maintenance work across Sydney’s train network.