Rail Tram and Bus Union state secretary Alex Claassens said the latest offer involved no modifications to the new trains to address his members’ safety concerns about them while offering pay rises of 3 per cent a year.
“The sticking point for us is and always will be the safety of the rail network,” he said. “And unfortunately,what they’ve done is they’ve offered us a bribe to run the new intercity fleet the way it is without modifications.”
Employee Relations Minister Damien Tudehope and Transport for NSW secretary Rob Sharp met the union bosses in the Sydney CBD while Transport Minister David Elliott dialled into the 15-minute meeting late on Friday via a video link.
Claassens said the government had given the union three weeks to consult its members on the latest offer,and wanted the RTBU to suspend its planned industrial action.
“We’re not going to make a decision tonight. I will take the package to the members and have the conversations with the members. In the meantime,all those actions will stay on,he said. “I am beyond disappointed that they have tried to bribe railway workers to accept an unsafe operating model.”
The government and train workers have been at loggerheads for years over the safety of the new intercity fleet,which rail unions argue requires modifications before it can operate safely in NSW. The changes to the new trains are central to a new enterprise bargaining agreement for thousands of rail workers.