Karl Stefanovic has unleashed a scathing tirade against the rail union boss after hundreds of trains were cancelled and more delayed, throwing Sydney transport into chaos.
Across Sydney, an estimated 1,500 rail services – about 40 per cent – were cancelled or significantly delayed during peak hour on Wednesday morning.
Only 16 per cent of morning services were on-time or within five minutes of their scheduled departures, which wreaked havoc for morning commuters as more than 80 per cent of services were cancelled or running up to six hours late.
The Electrical Trades Union and the Rail, Tram and Bus Union’s 350 ongoing work bans were a result of their planned industrial action.
Dozens of trains have yet again been cancelled and delayed on Thursday as the unions and the state government failed to reach an agreement in their long-standing pay dispute.
The RTBU also launched 10 fresh actions and has remained firm in its demands for a 32 per cent pay rise over four years for its members.
Stefanovic spoke to RTBU secretary Toby Warnes on Thursday morning and slammed the industrial action.
The Today show host asked the union boss how he felt knowing he ‘had lost the people’ following Wednesday’s work bans.
Today host Carl Stefanovic has slammed RTBU secretary Toby Warnes for the union’s industrial action after more than 1,500 train services were either cancelled or delayed causing commuter chaos across Sydney
‘Yeah, look. Not great. Yesterday was a hard day. I think it was a hard day for everybody,’ Mr Warnes said.
‘The facts of what happened yesterday aren’t as straightforward as what’s been put out, unfortunately.’
Mr Warnes explained the industrial action was more than ‘just a union strike’ and claimed majority of the cancellations and delays due to the Electrical Trades Union refusing to do critical maintenance work between Bondi Junction and Homebush.
Stefanovic fired back claiming Mr Warnes had ‘stuffed it up’ and Sydneysiders suffered because of it.
‘At the end of the day, people just want to go to work. They want to be able to go about their lives,’ Stefanovic said.
‘Now it’s tipped over, now people are angry, now people want resolution and now you’ve lost the support of people out there. You’ve stuffed it up.’
Mr Warnes said he did not ‘accept that’ and claimed the union had been requesting the state government to resume negotiations to figure out the ‘magic number’.
Stefanovic interjected and slammed the union boss, claiming the negotiations had lost the support of the people. had lost the support of the people.

RTBU secretary Toby Warnes said the union was standing firm in its demands and claimed its members were ‘in this fight for the long term’
‘It’s got to the point now where you’ve lost the people, you’ve lost the support, and they just want resolution and it’s not happening,’ Stefanovic said.
‘They’re now blaming you. There’s no resolution in sight, and their lives are being badly affected and they’ve had enough.
‘So you have to roll over, don’t you?’
Mr Warnes replied: ‘I don’t think so. We take instructions from our members. Members are still very much behind us.’
Stefanovic interrupted the union boss and argued member’s ‘can’t be’ supporting the union especially after Wednesday’s travel chaos.
‘Absolutely they are,’ Mr Warnes said. ‘They are in this fight for the long term’.
‘Unfortunately, it has gotten ugly when things like what happened yesterday happen.
‘It is easy to use the union as a scapegoat. I understand that people are angry. We hope we can get things back on track.
‘Our ban of driving the trains a little bit slower does not cause the sort of disruption we saw yesterday, and hopefully today runs a lot better than yesterday.’

The industrial action caused chaos for commuters during Wednesday morning’s peak hour as 1,500 services were cancelled or significantly delayed
Stefanovic doubled-down claiming the union could not ‘continue to hold the people of Sydney ransom’.
Commuters were warned on Thursday to allow for extra travel time on Thursday as the RTBU continued its industrial action.
Lengthy delays, service cancellations and very large service gaps on the rail network are expected to continue tomorrow due to ongoing protected industrial action,’ Sydney Trains wrote on X.
‘Please delay non-essential travel, allow extra travel time, and consider all your transport options.’
The disruptions are expected to worsen from Friday, with rail workers refusing to override the system that controls the network’s traffic lights.
Meanwhile, new work bans will also be introduced including a strike on ‘hazardous waste’ and an eight-day ban on ‘absolute signal blocking’ – which is used to close sections of the tracks for maintenance.
While separate unions, the ETU and the RTBU are working together as part of the Combined Rail Unions to negotiate terms with the government.
The union has refused to lift its work bans unless the government resumes negotiations.
The union has remained firm in its demands, calling for a significant pay increase, a 35-hour work week and a 1 per cent increase to superannuation.
The NSW government offered the union a 15 per cent pay rise over four years, including a one per cent superannuation, on Tuesday.
Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the industrial action had squeezed ‘the life out of our rail network’ and urged union members to accept the ‘final offer’.
However, the offer was less than half the Combined Rail Union’s demands of a 32 per cent pay increase over four years.
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