Aussies unleash at Sydney train delays as expert reveals why industrial action could do more damage than good

Frustrated commuters and rival unions have unleashed after ‘ratbag’ strike action threw Sydney’s rail network into disarray once again.

About 1000 services, or 80 per cent of the daily total were cancelled on Wednesday with the ongoing strike action expected to cause more commuter chaos over the next two days. 

Go slows and work bans by the Electrical Trades Union enacted as part of a long-running pay dispute with the NSW government blamed for the widespread disruptions which caused some trains to be delayed for up to six hours.

‘This is the boa constrictor strangling our network… this is the cumulative impact of hundreds of industrial bans,’ transport minister Jo Haylen said.

Severe thunderstorms that smashed the city on Wednesday night added to the chaos. 

‘All suburban and Intercity trains will return to their stabling yards by midnight to help  manage the ongoing severe impacts of today’s protected industrial action, as this evening’s severe weather also takes out more services across the network,’ the latest travel alert states.

‘Lengthy delays, service cancellations and very large service gaps on the rail network are expected to continue tomorrow due to ongoing protected industrial action. 

‘Please delay non-essential travel, allow extra travel time, and consider all your transport options.

The union’s tactics on Wednesday didn’t win many admirers on social media.

‘This stupid union stunt on the trains in and out of Sydney is going to get someone killed,’ a commuter fumed on X.

‘Cramming people onto trains, then running them at waking pace in the middle of summer means it won’t be a surprise when someone collapses and they can’t get help. Not making allies here.’

Another added: ‘What you don’t understand is, due to COVID, from 2020-22 majority of Aussies didn’t get pay rises.’

‘Since then most Aussies have had 2-3% per year MAX!! Sydney Trains employees continued to get pay rises throughout COVID. I hope you all get karma for this.’ 

A third wrote: ‘Brother, can Sydney get automated trains already. f*** the trains and especially f*** the train staff.’

Another replied: ‘The great irony of the Sydney Rail Union strike is the driverless trains are all running fine.

‘If you’re fighting for a pay rise, you’re going to replaced by AI anyway. Maybe demand some up-skilling instead. We won’t need to pay $150k py for someone to make a train stop and go.’

Many weren’t looking forward to Thursday’s commute to work. 

‘Who do we ask for a cab voucher?’ one asked

Another added: ‘It took me three-and-a-half this morning to get to work instead of 50 minutes, should I be expecting the same for tomorrow morning?’

Sydney Trains replied: ‘Due to the unpredictable nature of the protected industrial action, we aren’t aware of the impact to a service until it is closer to departure time, so we can’t give an estimate of how your travel might be delayed or impacted.’

Managing director Jack McGuire from Red Union Support Hub, a group of politically unaffiliated worker associations that seeks to challenge traditional unions slammed the strike action as a ‘ratbag’ way to ‘create headlines’.

While he was unable to comment on the specifics of the negotiations between the unions and the NSW government, Mr McGuire said ‘there’s many ways to skin a cat in any industrial dispute, particularly with a government’. 

‘These guys are looking for ways to create headlines and get people talking,’ Mr McGuire told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday.

‘We prefer industrial action that puts pressure on the politicians and bureaucrats and not the general public.

‘There’s other ways of creating embarrassment for politicians that doesn’t necessarily impact the public – you can perform work in a manner that is different than usual.

‘We have been able to manage reasonably fine with all our unions getting pay increases without being too ratbag about it. 

‘Usually we withdraw some of the admin and reporting stuff that the politicians and bureaucrats really love.’

‘That gives them nothing to do and that puts the pressure on them without impacting the public.’

One potential tactic that the unions could take is to not collect fares, which puts commuters onside.   

‘We’ve been able to have success without having to withdraw labour entirely and be disruptive,’ Mr McGuire said.

‘If they want to borrow some of our negotiators they are welcome to.’

Mr McGuire, who was member of Liberal Party before setting up Red Unions expects more industrial action but believes it won’t address the central problem. 

‘One of the biggest issues facing the country at the moment is inflation is going through the roof,’ he said.

‘The root cause of that is government spending, the massive increase in money supply, so of course there is going to inflation, it is all these politicians’ fault.

‘When you see rampant inflation in the economy it is essentially a silent tax on the populace, which impacts workers and the least fortunate.

‘So the only mechanism workers have to make sure their dollars have the same purchasing power that they did the last year is to take industrial action because the politicians won’t acknowledge they are part of the problem.’

Mr McGuire said the Red Unions initially formed in the pandemic period to serve Queensland nurses concerned their union was compromised in its dealings with then state Labor government.

As a result the Red Unions have it in their constitution they won’t financially support any political party, unlike the traditional industrial unions affiliated with Labor. 

‘Workers in their droves are flocking towards us because they want someone who is going to focus on them exclusively and not also worry about getting their mates into parliament,’ Mr McGuire said with the group’s over all membership being 22,000.

Delays on the T4 line reached as high as six hours before peak evening hour, according to Transport NSW.  

Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland warned of major delays on the Central Coast line on Thursday if overnight maintenance work at Gosford wasn’t completed as scheduled.

‘The advice that we’re receiving, particularly from the Electrical Trades Union is that there will be no movement on their work bans this evening, and that these sorts of delays that we’ve seen today will continue into the day tomorrow,’ he said on Wednesday. 

‘So we’re asking everyone to plan ahead. If you do need to travel tomorrow, keep up to date with the latest information. 

The NSW Government is looking at legal options over what it said are ‘intolerable’ union work bans, which have come amid a long-running pay dispute. 

Authorities said members of the Electrical Trades Union failed to undertake critical maintenance at two key areas of the train network on Tuesday night – at Homebush and Bondi Junction, sparking significant delays.

For the services that were running, Rail, Tram and Bus Union members deliberately drove trains slower on the tracks – cutting speeds by 23km/h on lines where trains usually travel 80km/h.

By 6.30am, hundreds of train services had already been cancelled, with many more delayed, causing significant disruption as hundreds of thousands of workers tried to get to work. 

The NSW government’s long-running battle with the state’s train drivers has seen them offer the union a 14 per cent pay rise. 

But unions have stayed firm in their demands, calling for a significant pay increase, a 35-hour work week and a 1 per cent increase to their superannuation.

Eight-months into negotiations for a new pay deal, Ms Haylen said the government offered rail workers a 13 per cent pay hike plus 1 per cent super rise over four years.

But that offer was less than half the combined rail unions’ demands of a 32 per cent pay increase over four years (eight per cent annually).

Rail, Tram and Bus Union state secretary Toby Warnes said the union was not impressed with the proposed deal.

‘The current wages offer, which is all we’re really certain on exactly what it looks like, does seem a little light-on,’ Mr Warnes told ABC Radio.

‘(The) disrespect that has been levelled against them, that does have an impact on how commuters see our members, it’s not nice, and we’d like to see the government shift that rhetoric, if it wants us to sit down and properly consider this offer.’

But Ms Haylen said: ‘This is a fair and reasonable offer that represents a real increase in take-home pay.

‘I would ask that (workers) consider it and ideally support it so we can end this dispute and return our train network to an operation I know you are proud to operate.’

Sydney Trains has set a Thursday deadline for the unions to provide an in-principle response to the offer.