"Important Alert for Sydney Commuters: Anticipated Increase in Transport Disruptions"

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Sydney commuters are being advised to plan ahead and allow extra travel time, with the city’s rail network set to face disruption throughout the day and week due to ongoing action by train staff.

On Monday, 310 Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink drivers and guards did not report for their morning shifts, leading to 322 services being cancelled, Transport for NSW said.

It said rail services that did run were on time more than 80 per cent of the time.

While there have been “minimal delays” so far, the government agency said the number of staff vacancies could grow throughout the day.

“However, passengers are still advised to plan ahead and allow extra travel time as there will be disruption over the course of the day due to industrial action.”

It comes after commuters were urged on Sunday afternoon to avoid non-essential travel, with “lengthy delays and cancellations” expected to continue this week due to ongoing action, though Transport for NSW executives said the nature of this was “unpredictable”.

On Sunday, Sydney Trains lost its bid to stop action taken by members of the public transport union, creating a knock-on effect for commuters.

NSW government’s bid to stop action

The NSW government took the Rail, Tram and Bus Union to the Fair Work Commission after what it described as an “unprecedented” number of employees calling in sick on Friday.

Up to 95.3 per cent of all Friday’s services were either delayed or cancelled, which Transport for NSW put down to 862 train drivers and guards not reporting for their normal shifts.

The commission dismissed the government’s argument on Sunday, saying there was no pattern of coordinated industrial action.

“I am not satisfied on the evidence that I can infer from any increase in sick leave numbers that the union has organised or is organising a covert campaign of sick leave amongst its members and I would decline to make orders against the union on that basis,” the commission’s deputy president Thomas Roberts said in his decision.

It was the latest step in an increasingly bitter dispute as talks over a new enterprise agreement stalled once more after dragging on for almost a year.

Disagreement over a previously undiscussed $4,500 incentive payment, included in the previous agreement, caused negotiations to break down.

Interim Transport Minister John Graham urged train workers to cease their actions, saying it would disrupt the transport network.

Passengers on the Sydney train network have been told to expect more delays this week. Source: AAP / Mark Evans

“Industrial action negotiation has been going on for 10 months. The government’s view is it’s time to stop that industrial action [because of] the impact it’s having on commuters and businesses,” he told reporters on Sunday.

“This dispute over time has been about a range of things; at one point, it was about running trains 24 hours a day. At another point, it was about free fares. Now, it is about a $4,500 sign-on bonus.

“We can’t afford bells and whistles here.”

The end-of-year $4,500 bonus has become a sticking point after the former Coalition government agreed to pay it to the union in 2022 to end protracted industrial actions.

“There’s no blank cheque. We can’t sign a blank cheque to settle this dispute. If we did, there’d be another demand and in six months’ time, we’d be back here again,” Graham said.

‘We will not be coming back with new demands’

But the union’s NSW secretary, Toby Warnes, said the government’s losing track record at the commission indicates that workers have a right to be fairly compensated.

“This is really in the government’s court to give commuters that certainty and not to use commuters as a football to further its industrial strategy,” he said at a press conference on Sunday.

Warnes said the government’s tone would further put workers offside and they would not show up to work on Monday.

He also took aim at the government’s characterisation of the union’s bargaining tactics.

“This idea of us coming back with demands in six months is complete nonsense and I can tell people of NSW that we will not be coming back with new demands in six months,” he said.

Minns criticises union’s demands as ‘blackmail’

NSW Premier Chris Minns sharply criticised the union on Monday.

“They think everybody in Sydney is stupid or that they’re getting away with it, when everyone’s on to them,” he said while speaking to reporters.

Minns called the union’s demands “blackmail” and said agreeing to them would “only embolden them”.

A man in a blue suit speaks into press microphones while gesturing.

NSW Premier Chris Minns accused the Rail, Tram and Bus Union of “blackmail”. Source: AAP / Flavio Brancaleone

NSW Opposition leader Mark Speakman has called for the matter to be escalated, urging Minns to ask and Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt for help.

Minns said it won’t happen until after the commission hearing.

“But I’m not ruling anything out,” he said.

Delays and cancellations expected to continue

On Sunday, Matt Longland, chief executive of Sydney Trains, said: “We will plan for a normal timetable throughout the week, but we do expect that there will be delays and cancellations on Monday and those delays could be quite unpredictable.”

Transport for NSW secretary Josh Murray apologised to commuters ahead of the delays, vowing his department would do all it could to smooth out any disruptions.

“Sunday nights can be tough enough in preparing for the working week without thinking about the uncertainty of how you’re going to get to work and how long it’s going to take,” he said.

Union officials initially pushed for a 32 per cent pay rise across four years, but the government offered 15 per cent for the same period — including a federally mandated superannuation increase.

The union later provided a counteroffer of about 20 per cent across three years, which it rescinded after legal action was launched.

The rail network typically transports about one million people a day, with commuters facing repeated disruptions as the 10-month-long negotiations drag on.

The matter will return to the Fair Work Commission once again on Wednesday in a bid to halt protected industrial action.

On Monday, Minns said his government was hopeful the commission would step in, but it will have “a plan B and a plan C” in place.