Sydney Trains to Keep Chugging Along on New Years Eve, Union and Premier Still at Odds

The rail union has agreed not to conduct any industrial action that would disrupt new year celebrations, but tensions between government and union remain.

New Year's Eve fireworks light up the sky over Sydney's iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House during the fireworks show on Jan. 1, 2022. David Gray/AFP via Getty Images

The Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) has agreed not to carry out industrial action that many feared might have put Sydney’s New Year’s Eve celebrations on ice.

Sydney Trains and prominent Sydney businesses had lodged a Fair work Commission case against the combined rail union due to fears that ongoing industrial action could threaten celebrations.

But a meeting held between the parties resulted in the Fair Work Commission case being dropped in exchange for an assurance that New Year’s activities would not be disrupted.

The union announced it was dropping eight major work bans to show it had no plans to disrupt events.

RBTU Secretary Toby Warnes addressed media, labelling claims of disruption to public transport services on New Year’s Eve as a “stunt” by Premier Chris Minns.

“There was never going to be any rail shutdown or major disruptions on New Year’s Eve and now there certainly won’t be,” he said.

“The government and the big business community withdrew its case from the Fair Work Commission today, allowing us to continue our industrial action from now.

“There’s been no suspension in national action, it’s true that we did withdraw some bans, hopefully to give the people of New South Wales more certainly than they otherwise had because of the rhetoric that has been ramped up so consistently by the Minns government.”

Warnes said the union had guaranteed the security of commuters would not be impacted.

“We hope this gives the government the confidence to stop ramping up the scare tactics,” he said.

Premier, Union at Odds

The latest announcement comes after emergency talks between the RBTU and the state government over pay rates and other issues failed to negotiate an outcome in September.

That same month, the RBTU said it would consider backing down on industrial action if the government would concede to introducing 50 cent fares, which were implemented in Queensland this year by outgoing former Labor Premier Steven Miles.

In a statement, the RTBU accused the state government of “continued attacks” on transport services and a failure to negotiate fairly on enterprise agreements.

“The New South Wales government has not engaged with stakeholders, including the union, over safety concerns about the conversion of the existing heavy rail corridor to an exposed Metro line without appropriate safeguards for commuters,” Warnes said in September.

In recent weeks, Warnes had agree to drop all industrial action until Jan. 7 in exchange for free fare for commuters for several weeks.

However, the premier immediately rejected this offer.

“I stupidly agreed to that [free fares] twice in the last six months hoping it would solve the industrial dispute,” Premier Chris Minns told reporters on Dec. 23.

“But nothing changed.

“It’s a trust issue—we don’t trust the union to follow through from all their industrial demands.”