The NSW Government says a group of rail workers’ unions will pause their industrial actions on Sydney Trains.
It comes afterimpacted thousands of commuters last week.
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) ruled in favour of the Government last week, calling on the unions to stop.
While the FWC said the rail unions “will not pursue these actions again,” the NSW Electrical Trades Union (ETU) has said it will only pause its action until March.
Background
The NSW Rail, Tram, and Bus Union (RTBU) has led a group of unions inwith the State Government over pay and conditions.
The unions have been asking for a 32% pay increase over four years. The NSW Government offered a 14% pay rise over four years.
The dispute led to ongoing industrial actions across Sydney Trains, such as driving trains slowly.
Around 1,900 trains were cancelled on 16 January, with a further 1,000 services cancelled on
Maintenance
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Transport for NSW (TfNSW) said “critical safety work” around Homebush, Bondi, and Gosford also influenced last week’s disruptions.
The RTBU said the delays and cancellations were due to “the engineering and maintenance branch of Sydney Trains who failed in their duty to maintain the network.”
TfNSW said these workers weren’t able to carry out this maintenance because of the industrial action.
One of the actions taken by the ETU was a ban on “using locking systems,” which reportedly meant Sydney Trains workers couldn’t access the locations which needed repair.
The RTBU claims these workers could have carried out the maintenance in the weeks before the industrial action, but did not do so.
Latest update
A NSW Government spokesperson said “all notified industrial action (other than actions like wearing union badges)” has been withdrawn by the rail unions.
The FWC said the rail unions “will not pursue these actions again.”
However, the ETU has only agreed to pause its industrial action across Sydney Trains until the end of March.
