The government is acutely aware of this,too. With 75 per cent of trains not running on Wednesday,Premier Dominic Perrottet was left no option but to hit the detonate button. It was a belated move,but Perrottet finally called time on the protracted dispute.
Anger has simmered between the union and the government since February,when Sydney Trains shut down the entire network for a day,claiming it would be unsafe to keep it running during planned industrial action over the long-awaited new intercity fleet of trains. That fleet,which has cost the taxpayer $2 billion,has been sitting idle for years.
While the Rail,Tram and Bus Union was raising safety concerns about the new trains,there was probably some public support for its action. The government insisted the fleet had been given a clean bill of health by the safety regulator,but the union warned guards would be unable to keep an eye out for looming accidents on platforms. A safety campaign is much more palatable than one solely for a pay rise.
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In May,Employee Relations Minister Damien Tudehope and Treasurer Matt Kean came out swinging. This only emboldened the union. Their ill-thought intervention also fuelled a brawl within the government. Transport Minister David Elliott threw grenades at his own side,accusing Kean of single-handedly derailing negotiations. Elliott reckoned the union became sceptical of the government after it sent “in a boy to do a man’s job”.
The government eventually caved in and agreed to spend as much as $1 billion on modifying the fleet. That really should have placated the union,if its claims had been genuine. But it didn’t,and after more backwards and forwards,and delays for long-suffering commuters,the rail workers now have another demand – a pay rise above the government’s wages cap. That casts serious doubt on whether the union was ever entirely honest about its motivations.
On Tuesday,Perrottet said the government and Labor were on a “unity ticket” when it came to the industrial action needing to end immediately. This would have infuriated some of his colleagues,who had spent weeks trying to paint Opposition Leader Chris Minns as Claassens’ puppet or,worse,that Minns was encouraging the union action.