Sydney hit by serious train delays after last-minute court ruling blocks industrial action | Sydney


There were widespread delays expected on Sydney’s train network on Monday, despite a court’s last-minute injunction against a planned strike after negotiations over a new pay deal collapsed.

Sydney commuters had hoped to be spared disruption after a court sided with the state government in granting the injunction late on Sunday.

However, the Minns government’s eleventh-hour push to seek legal orders barring industrial action – which was ultimately successful – occurred so late on Sunday that some of the impacts to the city’s train network could not be undone in time.

Transport NSW issued an alert on Monday that trains along the North Shore, Northern and Western lines may be less frequent with trips taking longer than normal “due to the impact of recent protected industrial action”.

“Trains may leave from different platforms, have changed stops or be cancelled,” the alert said.

On Sunday afternoon, the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, said a two-week period of “daily exhaustive” negotiations – which combined rail unions and the state government had agreed to enter in order to stave off a two-day strike across all Sydney train lines late last month – had not delivered a breakthrough.

Minns said the government could not agree to the rail unions’ pay demands at the same time as it was pushing against similar pay increases requested by the nurses’ and other unions.

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As a result, the two-week moratorium on industrial action as part of the negotiation window was set to send, and the government asked the rail unions to pull their planned actions related to limits on how far drivers could travel each day.

When the union refused this request, the state government sought an 11th-hour injunction at the federal court. A government spokesperson said that going to court to prevent the industrial action “was not a decision we took lightly”.

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The court ultimately granted interim orders preventing the unions from taking the planned industrial action. A future hearing set by the court will now determine if the unions can take the actions they had planned. However, the unions claimed they can “simply” hold a ballot on taking fresh industrial action, raising the prospect of further disruptions this week.

Rail unions labelled the Minns government’s actions “appalling”. Toby Warnes, the secretary of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union NSW said “to attack a group of essential workers in this way is petulant and disappointing to say the least.

Natalie Ward, the opposition transport spokesperson, was scathing of the transport minister, Jo Haylen.

“Jo Haylen has one job, to keep NSW transport moving. Instead, she’s steering us straight into gridlock. This government’s inability to manage basic industrial negotiations is leaving families stranded and businesses bleeding at the busiest time of the year,” Ward said.



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