Australia’s largest economy is grinding to a slow halt as Sydney’s major train lines—critical arteries to transport workers to the CBD—get cancelled amid industrial action.
On the morning of Jan. 14, major services including the T1 North Shore and Western line, the T4 Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra line, and the T8 Airport and South lines were cancelled or delayed.
Some commuters are reporting trains running more than an hour after their scheduled time, with the network impacted by 101 train service cancellations.
Across the Sydney and intercity service network, only 15.8 percent of trains arrived within five minutes of their scheduled time—the benchmark is normally 92 percent.
The rail network is currently slogged with 350 various stoppages or “go slows” by five different unions.
Sydney’s heavy reliance on its rail network to transport workers to-and-fro the CBD makes it a particularly effective bargaining chip for industrial action, with the state’s transport unions regularly threatening to stop or reduce services.
Rail unions were offered a 13 percent pay increase over four years, but this was rejected with union officials saying it did not meet their demand of a 4 percent annual increase.
The unions had called for a 32 percent increase in 8 percent increments over four years, as well as 35-hour work weeks, and an extra 1 percent in superannuation contributions.
In announcing the government’s offer on Jan. 14, NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the government’s offer was above inflation and represented “a real increase to take-home pay for rail workers.”
“These are essential workers, workers who help us move more than a million people each day,” she told reporters.
Haylen said the offer was reflective of the government’s valuing of rail workers.
But Rail, Tram and Bus Union state secretary Toby Warnes told ABC Radio the union was “perturbed” by the offer.
“The current wages offer ... does seem a little light-on,” Rail, Tram and Bus Union state secretary Toby Warnes told ABC Radio.
“So that’s obviously something we’re not extremely happy about. I don’t think 13 percent over four years is going to cut it.”
Commuters Urged to Stay Home if Possible
Sydney Trains CEO Matt Longland told 2GB radio that those who could work from home, should.“We are seeing major delays on the rail network today due to industrial action,” he said.
“There was some safety-critical maintenance work last night that wasn’t completed ...”
Support from the Combined Rail Unions was requested to complete critical overnight maintenance at Bondi and Homebush, which was not provided, resulting in essential infrastructure “booked out of use,” creating significant delays.
Longland said the T4, T8 and T1 lines had the worst delays, but was concerned it could “cascade” throughout the day to cause disruptions on additional lines.
Multiple Stoppages Happening
Numerous bans have been placed on Sydney’s trains, including one action that slows trains down to no more than 25 kilometres per hour.“The impact we’re seeing is created by a ban that’s in place by the Electrical Trades Union, the ETU, our maintenance workers that do critical maintenance on the tracks each night, and that work wasn’t completed last night,” Longland said.
Sydney Trains confirmed it has been withholding pay from some staff who engage in excessive industrial action.
Transport New South Wales said buses would be used to support train services where possible, with cancellations and delays expected to continue through the week.
“Buses will support train services on some lines in the off peak where possible, and Metro will operate on an increased 4-minute frequency,” a spokesperson said.
“Passengers are urged to delay non-essential travel, leave plenty of additional travel time, and plan ahead by checking the latest updates on transportnsw.info and live travel apps.”
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union and Electrical Trades Union were contacted for comment.
