As the dispute between the Perrottet government and rail unions escalated last week,Burke wrote to the Fair Work Commission flagging legislative reform to limit employers’ ability to terminate enterprise agreements.
Burke told the commission he held concerns that it was being used as a bargaining tactic and said he was conscious of a potential rush by employers to rip up collective deals ahead of his government moving to crack down on the practice.
The letter was sent less than 24 hours after Tudehope warned that the state government was willing to terminate the combined rail unions’ existing enterprise agreement unless workers agreed to a new pay deal.
However,Burke said his letter was not targeted at any current industrial dispute.
“There are a large number of issues relevant to the Fair Work Commission that were outcomes of the Jobs and Skills Summit,” Burke said.
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“Of course I notified the Commission of those outcomes - it would have been irresponsible to do anything less. I made no reference in that letter to any particular dispute.”
Burke said he had publicly stated last month that it was unreasonable to threaten significant cuts to people’s pay by cancelling agreements in any pay negotiation.
Elliott said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese needed to fall in line with NSW Labor leader Chris Minns and call for an end to industrial action on Sydney’s public transport network.
“I’m calling on Albanese to step up … and back Chris Minns’ views that this has to stop and the union has to pull their head in,” he said.
Sydney’s commuters have endured months of delays and disruption on the city’s transport network due to sporadic industrial action as rail unions and the government remain at odds over a pay deal and the future of a multibillion-dollar train fleet.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet last week said his government was no longer willing to negotiate with the combined rail unions over a new pay deal and warned he would apply to terminate their existing agreement if industrial action continued past Friday.
However,the government’s ultimatum was pushed back after unions applied to the Fair Work Commission to force the government to continue bargaining.
A government spokeswoman said “no further action” would be taken before a Fair Work Commission hearing on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
Minns said he was hopeful the state government and rail unions would reach an agreement in the coming days.
“It’s not surprising federal Labor has ventilated views that it has previously held,I’d probably be reluctant to offer extended commentary about the letter,” he said.
“The application to terminate bargaining has occurred not just in state government corporations,but in the private sector and other jurisdictions going back,going back years.”
The NSW government has labelled the rail unions’ legal move a “delaying tactic”,which blocked a vote by their members and dragged out the negotiations for political purposes.
The Rail,Tram and Bus Union last week lauded Burke’s letter as “a victory for common sense and an important step towards a more civilised and productive enterprise bargaining system”.
The prime minister’s office declined to comment.
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