After nine months of negotiations, a deal for 13,000 rail workers in New South Wales, Australia, collapsed over a $4500 one-off payment agreed upon with the previous government. The dispute led to widespread service cancellations and delays, paralyzing Sydney's train network on a Friday. The rail union insists the payment should be honored, while the current government argues it was intended as a substitute for back pay, which is not a factor in the current negotiations.
Finally, after nine months of stalled negotiations, rail union bosses were convinced a deal was almost done on Thursday. Union officials, NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey’s office and Transport for NSW bureaucrats had spent hours in the NSW Labor caucus room in Macquarie Street fine-tuning the last details of a pay deal for 13,000 rail workers.
Forgoing that payment could boost the overall pay offer to a level that train drivers and guards could accept. But it was that payment, and feverish disagreement, which ultimately brought the entire negotiations crashing down, and plunged Sydney’s train network into total chaos. In November 2022, the then-Perrottet government agreed to pay all rail workers a $4500 bonus payment to end its protracted industrial dispute with the combined rail unions. With a state election looming, it did not need an ongoing brawl with workers who could cripple the transport system at any stage.
As commuters were left stranded on a muggy Valentine’s Day Friday, the government circulated copies of a 2023 Fair Work Commission judgment to support their argument, which confirmed the deal struck by the then-Coalition government and the rail unions.
Rail Union Strike Sydney Trains Industrial Dispute Government Negotiation
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