The Minns government has launched urgent legal action to stop the rail union from resuming industrial action on Monday.
Premier Chris Minns in a statement on Sunday night said the government was seeking an injunction in the Federal Court to stop the Rail, Tram and Bus Union from resuming industrial action on Monday.
“After two weeks of negotiations we have not been able to come to a fair deal with the combined rail unions,” Mr Minns said.
“Daily exhaustive negotiations have not resulted in a breakthrough despite the government’s best efforts.
“I’m disappointed and I’m very sorry about it, but unfortunately that’s where we are at.”
It prompted a retort from the union which claimed it was an “unprecedented legal attack against workers” and accused the Labor government of “effectively shutting down the talks”.
Premier Chris Minns. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short.
Mr Minns made the announcement on Sunday night despite negotiations over the weekend.
Last week, RTBU NSW secretary Toby Warnes said “action” was set to commence on Monday.
While the union was previously negotiating for trains to run 24 hours each day from Thursday to Saturday nights, it had since backed down.
The union had vowed to place a restriction on the distance its members could travel during a shift as part of its negotiations for pay rises.
Mr Minns said he could not agree to the union’s demands having “at the same time” said “no to the nurses union and other unions” during “reasonable settlements” this year.
“The Government asked rail unions to pull their planned industrial action this coming week,” Mr Minns said.
“They’ve refused.
“And as a result Transport for NSW has this afternoon sought an injunction in the federal court to do all we can to avoid inconvenience to NSW families in the run up to Christmas.”
RTBU NSW Secretary Toby Warnes. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard.
The union was demanding a 32 per cent pay rise over four years as part of negotiations.
Mr Warnes on Sunday said the government had blown up positive negotiations and accused it of attempting to “find loopholes in the multi-employer bargaining agreement to suggest the action planned by workers is unprotected.”
“Sending threatening legal notices at a moment in the negotiations when it looked like we were very close to being able to land an agreement is unbelievably irresponsible and disruptive,” Mr Warnes said.
“We are desperate to reach a deal, but it appears the NSW Government is more interested in threatening workers and continuing chaos. They have been aware of this action for over six weeks, but they’ve waited until the 11th hour to pull a stunt like this.”
The RTBU on Sunday said that protected industrial action would go ahead from Monday to Wednesday.
As part of the action, the distance which can be travelled by drivers and guards will be incrementally reduced.
“The maximum distances for suburban drivers and guards will be reduced by 5 kilometres per day, for intercity drivers and guards it will be reduced by 8 kilometres per day,” the union said.