‘Over it’: More than 350 trains cancelled over union bonuses

More than 350 trains have been cancelled as commuters are warned to prepare for delays amid a bitter dispute between the rail union and the NSW government.

Trains will run 23km/h slower in areas of track where the speed limit is over 80km/h from Friday as part of industrial action launched by the Rail, Tram and Bus Union.

All Sydney train services are affected by the industrial action, including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Newcastle, Hunter, South Coast, Southern Highlands and T1-T9 lines.

Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink warned delays and service cancellations were being experienced across the network on Friday morning.

“A limited train service is currently operating across most lines, large gaps in service and crowding are expected,” they said in an alert posted to X.

“Please allow extra travel time, consider delaying your travel plans or if possible catching Metro or other nearby public transport services to continue your journey if you are able to do so.”

Transport for NSW urged passengers to delay non-essential travel.“Our teams are working hard to recover as much of the timetable as possible, however, due to a high level of staff absences, we are looking at ongoing, substantial, and worsening disruption,” Transport for NSW said in a statement.

“Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink apologise to our passengers once again for the disruption and thank commuters for their understanding as staff at the Rail Operations Centre and across the network work to minimise the impacts of this difficult industrial

period.”

The South Coast Line is set to be particularly affected, with no train services running at all.

Transport for NSW said four buses were operating in the area between Wollongong and Kiama and Kiama and Bomaderry.

‘LET’S F**K UP THE NETWORK’

An RTBU convener allegedly told union members to stay home in a text message, saying “Let’s f**K up the network”, according to reports by 2GB.

However, RTBU NSW secretary Toby Warnes said he wasn’t aware of the text.

“Ben, look, to be honest, I’m not aware of the text that you’ve read out,” he told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.

“We certainly didn’t direct our members to do anything in response to the lockout notices.”

Mr Warnes later said he was sure there’d be many more similar text messages circulating between workers while speaking at a press conference on Friday.

“I can’t comment on the circumstances around that particular message, but as I said, when you send 5000 (lockout) notices … in the age of social media, you’re always going to have chatter,” Mr Warnes said.

The industrial action comes after the RTBU claims Sydney and NSW Trains notified workers that they would lock out employees and dock their pay if they caused transport to run slower than the timetabled

“We asked the government to rescind its lockout notices to ensure services ran smoothly on Friday, but unfortunately they refused,” Mr Warnes said.

“We hope that the NSW government doesn’t choose to blow this up and cause serious delays, but the reality is we can’t predict the impact.

“It’s bitterly disappointing that we haven’t been able to reach a sensible agreement over the past 48 hours. We were incredibly close in negotiations but it seems there are people within Transport for NSW who are still intent on blowing this dispute up.”

$4500 BONUSES BEHIND DISPUTE

NSW Minister for Transport John Graham rejected the suggestion on Friday morning.

“This isn’t a lockout — we’re obviously, though, not paying people to take industrial action,” Mr Graham said on 2GB.

He said the government had on Wednesday agreed with the union to postpone the action and to ensure people didn’t have their pay docked, with the offer “still on the table this morning”.

“That is something we’d like to see. Negotiations have been positive, but we just have not agreed at the moment,” Mr Graham said.

“That’s no reason, though, for commuters to be impacted, for small businesses to be impacted. From the government end, the offer’s here right now to be able to say if we can postpone those actions, the government’s certainly happy to step back from the pay docking.”

Mr Warnes said he was sure commuters, the government, and the union were “over it” by now and he would also like to see a resolution.

“I hope we can get back around the table today and just resolve this thing, but the immediate fix to this is for the government to just rescind its lockout notices,” Mr Warnes told 2GB.

The latest dispute appears to revolve around a $4500 bonus, which the RTBU claims was in their negotiated enterprise agreement.

“We were negotiating into the night with the NSW government, unfortunately it hit a sticking point when TfNSW at the last moment asked that a clause be taken out of our enterprise agreement,” Mr Warnes said.

“It’s disappointing that we’ve seen the delays that we’ve seen across the network this morning and commuters will likely see throughout the day.”

However, Mr Graham claimed the bonuses had “come as a surprise” late in negotiations and one which the state government “simply can’t afford” to pay.

The industrial action was branded an “act of bastardry” by Fordham.

NewsWire has contacted Transport for NSW for comment.