Thousands of Sydneysiders are hoping for a smooth commute home on Thursday night after rail workers were ordered to stop industrial action immediately.
The Fair Work Commission has ordered an interim order stopping all strike action until a hearing is held next week.
The strike ban came into effect 6.30pm Thursday.
The NSW government earlier submitted a 424 application to the Fair Work Commission, in a bid to force industrial action to stop.
Premier Chris Minns ended his holiday early and returned to government in order to lodge the new with the Fair Work Commission.
This new claim allows the commission to immediately halt any protected industrial action if it is found to endanger life, personal safety or health, or welfare of people or cause significant damage to the Australian economy or part of it.
The breakthrough comes after two days of travel chaos as part of the Electrical Trades Union and the Rail, Tram and Bus Union’s ongoing pay dispute.
An estimated 40 per cent – about 1,500 rail services – were cancelled or significantly on Wednesday and an additional 1000 services were cancelled on Thursday.
Train strikes will temporarily stop after The Fair Work Commission was given new authorities to intervene under a new application filed by the NSW government
Premier Chris Minns ended his holiday early in order to return to government and file a new claim under Section 424 which allows the commission to end protected action
Fair Work Commission president Alan Hatcher said the mandatory interim order had to be made as it would not be practicable to have the legal challenge heard within five days as is required under legislation.
Sydney Trains lawyer Jamie Darams SC had previously said that the rail authority would provide nine witness statements at a full bench hearing on Wednesday and Thursday next week.
The statements would be ‘mostly directed to the operational consequences of the work bans in place and the effects of those bans’, he said.
‘In particular, we will be relying upon the welfare, endangerment to the welfare and also, I understand at this stage, health and safety.’
Mr Daram made clear that Sydney Trains wanted the matter ‘heard sooner rather than later’.
James Emmett, who represents NSW Industrial Relations Minister Sophie Cotsis, said the government would provide evidence about economic impact in the hearings.
Mr Emmett said this evidence would prove the rail strikes cause ‘significant damage to an important part of the economy, as well as welfare harm to welfare’.
Mr Minns said his government wanted an urgent outcome which would end the industrial action that has thrown the city into chaos as soon as possible.
The premier said despite his government engaging in good faith negotiations with rail unions they had been stymied every time
Banning protected industrial action for the time being was not a decision he made lightly but was ‘appropriate’, according to Mr Minns
The premier said that despite good faith negotiations with rail unions no agreement has been made and that ‘nearly every family in Sydney’ has bee impacted by now.
‘We have sat in good faith with the unions for a long time, we’ve come to the table with a good faith offer,’ the premier said.
‘We’ve made that offer public to NSW employees in the transport system.
‘We’ve done everything we possibly can to get to an agreement with the rail unions – they’ve continued to hold out.
‘When the union says negotiations, what they really mean is that they’re going to continue to put a noose around the public transport system while demanding more and more and more money from the NSW government.
‘And unfortunately, the collateral damage when it comes to this industrial action are the mums and dads, the commuters, the people of NSW that just need to get to and from work.
‘Now, if the Fair Work Commission agrees with the government’s application, that’s the end of protected industrial action on the railways in NSW, and we go to an arbitrated decision.’
Mr Minns said the decision to ban protected industrial action for the time being was ‘appropriate’ despite its consequences given the circumstances he is facing.
Commuters around Sydney have been thrown into endless chaos by the strikes which began late last year and have impacted thousands of trains since
The RBTU disputed Mr Minns’ claims of ‘endless industrial action’ and said his latest move was a desperate attempt to shift the blame onto rail workers.
‘If the NSW government truly cared about its essential workers — whether it’s nurses, psychiatrists, or rail workers — it would have come to the table long ago with a fair offer for these important workforces,’ the RTBU said in a statement.
‘Instead, it engages in cheap political tricks designed at achieving headlines, pays law firms top dollar to bring bogus legal cases, and anything else it can to avoid sitting at the bargaining table.
‘The workers of NSW are asking for basic, fair wages, safer conditions, and job security — nothing extravagant, just what they deserve. The longer the government refuses to take this seriously, the longer this dispute will drag on.’
It added that the government had previously failed to engage in bargaining for 44 days prior to the chaotic strikes.
NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the relentless strikes were ‘strangling’ the city’s networks and ‘making life impossible’ for its citizens.
‘We have put a very fair and reasonable offer on the table, and the deadline for the unions’ response is today,’ Ms Haylen said.
‘However, unfortunately, their commentary in the media and elsewhere has been that they are not supportive of that fair and reasonable offer.’
NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the strikes were ‘strangling’ the city and ‘making life impossible’
More to come
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