Millions of Sydney commuters will wake up this morning to find they have no way to get to work after all trains were suddenly cancelled.
Transport for NSW announced the sudden train closure at 5am on its social media post, and before that in a 1.38am email to staff.
‘Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink intercity services are not running today due to industrial action,’ it wrote.
‘Please avoid travel wherever possible, use alternative modes of transport and allow extra travel time on other modes of transport.’
Rail replacement busses have not been organised due to the last-minute nature of the shutdown, with commuters urged to find alternative transport.
Millions of Sydney commuters will wake up this morning to find they have no way to get to work after all trains were suddenly cancelled
Transport bosses attempted to blame the union for the sudden rail shutdown, but it was Transport for NSW’s decision to shut the network down.
Workers never planned to strike and were all going to show up to work under comparatively minor bans on rostering flexibility.
The NSW Government took the issue to the Fair Work Commission on Sunday night trying to cancel the industrial action, after spending another $500,000 in legal fee on conciliation meetings with the union on Saturday.
Trains were due to go ahead but with significant delays after a series of court actions over the weekend as the union, management, and the NSW Government squabbled over details of long-running industrial action.
However, Transport for NSW secretary Rob Sharp at 1.38am sent an email suddenly cancelling all services in what rail workers called a ‘dummy spit’.
Mr Sharp, a former Virgin Australia boss, claimed the industrial action the union planned for the next two weeks would compromise safety.
Commuters pile on to buses in Parramatta after trains were suddenly cancelled across Sydney
‘These impacts result in hundreds and thousands of customers being left stranded, unable to get to work, school and where they need to be,’ he wrote.
‘We are doing everything possible to minimise the impact on commuters and sincerely apologise to people inconvenienced by this industrial action.’
The union, transport authorities, and the state government have been at each others throats for months over a new enterprise agreement.
Workers want better safety and hygiene standards and improved pay and conditions and successive negotiations have failed.
The union planned a ban on overtime and various flexible rostering conditions that make the network better able to respond to last-minute changes.
Both parties met on Saturday for a conciliation meeting to hammer out a short-term compromise, with transport and the government reportedly bringing a team of 10 lawyers estimated to have cost taxpayers $500,000.
Trains were due to go ahead but with significant delays after a series of court actions over the weekend as the union, management, and the NSW Government squabbled over details of long-running industrial action
They agreed to a compromise where the union would drop its overtime ban in exchange for Sydney Trains and the government dropping its plan to force the enterprise agreement to be arbitrated by the FWC.
Union bosses claim if the agreement was decided by the FWC it would side with the government and Sydney Trains because it was stacked with anti-union judges.
The union stressed that if there was a major incident or safety issue, workers would scramble to clear any risk even if it went against the industrial action.
‘If there is a genuine safety risk on the railway, we will always ensure the safety of all workers and the public,’ the union said on Sunday.
Then on Sunday night, both sides accused each other of reneging on the deal and Crown solicitors took the union to court to cancel the industrial action.
The government failed and the union resolved to continue with its plans with huge delays expected across the network.
Workers want better safety and hygiene standards and improved pay and conditions and successive negotiations have failed
‘The NSW Government today used anti-union laws to try and shut down our members’ right to take industrial action,’ the union said.
‘If the last few days have taught us anything, it’s that we have a government that is willing to try anything to screw us over, no matter what the cost to taxpayers.
‘We need to, and we will, stand together to beat this heartless and mortally bankrupt government. Our anger is palpable.’
Both parties will appear before the Fair Work Commission at 9am to thrash out the issue.
More to come.