Industrial action to resume on Wednesday after NSW government reveals improved pay offer
Commuters in Sydney have been warned to expect delays and slower journeys across the city’s train network from Wednesday due to industrial action by rail unions which are now considering an improved pay offer from the state.
Transport for New South Wales issued the warning to passengers about the “significant delays” on Tuesday afternoon, as city commuters continue to feel the effects of the impasse between rail unions and the state government over a new pay deal.
“Passengers may experience additional interchanges and increased crowding on the network as a result of the bans and should plan ahead, check the latest updates before making their journey and allow extra travel time,” the department warned.
The work bans and other measures would resume from Wednesday and continue to be tightened. They include speed limits for drivers that would see trains slow to 23km/h, far below their potential running speed of 80km/h, particularly affecting suburban and regional journeys.
The warning followed the NSW government revealing an improved pay offer to the combined rail unions on Tuesday.
Eight months into negotiations for a new pay deal, and amid proceedings in the Fair Work Commission (FWC) and federal court, the transport minister, Jo Haylen, announced an offer of an improved 13% pay rise plus 1% efficiency rise and 1% super rise across four years. This was up from the government’s starting offer of a 9.5% rise over three years – and its later offer of 11% across three years, including superannuation increases – but much lower than the combined rail unions’ demands of 32% over four years.
Haylen said the sweetened offer was made possible by an agreement to merge the two state bodies that run Sydney trains and regional trains over the next four years. The merger was expected to drive productivity gains and financial savings that would fund an additional 1% rise.
Haylen said the latest offer was above inflation and “represents a real increase to take-home pay for rail workers”.
It was first floated by the government during discussions last year, with the government now revealing the details publicly and putting it to the workforce formally.
The offer, which was being made to unions on Tuesday for consideration, followed months of rolling industrial action, which included threats of network-wide work bans, and peaking when rail unions ditched plans to reduce services on New Year’s Eve.
Without a deal, unions were set to continue various already approved industrial actions, including work bans. The FWC cannot be asked to settle the substantive dispute – pay and conditions – until February.
Also on Tuesday, the NSW government revealed that some rail workers who had taken industrial action that included reduced workloads during shifts, but had not walked off entirely in a strike, would not be paid for certain shifts.
