12 hours Ago By Matt O'Sullivan
A temporary ceasefire in the bitter pay dispute that threatened train services for Sydney’s New Year’s Eve fireworks has been brokered at the 11th hour between the NSW government and rail unions. Just an hour after a Fair Work hearing started on Tuesday, unions dropped some of their major actions, resulting in the government withdrawing its bid seeking the umpire’s intervention to suspend or terminate industrial action. The action had threatened to limit services on New Year’s Eve, putting the city’s annual party at risk over fears for crowd safety.
The hearing was adjourned shortly after it started on Christmas Eve before the unions’ lawyers returned to outline the bans which would be dropped. The union is seeking a 32 per cent pay rise over four years. The government has offered wage rises of 9.
5 per cent over three years, as well as a further 0.5 per cent in the first if a deal was reached in a “timely manner”. RTBU state secretary Toby Warnes said the Minns government should return to the bargaining table on Boxing Day and “stop talking to your lawyers”.
Late on Monday night, the Rail, Tram and Bus Union agreed to withdraw six bans, including limits on the distance train crews can travel, while two others would no longer come into effect on December 28 as planned. Loading The pay dispute has become increasingly bitter as the state Labor government and its traditional allies in the union movement escalate attacks on one another. Lawyer Leo Saunders, who represented the rail unions, said they had committed to no new industrial action that posed a threat to train services on New Year’s Eve, while the Electrical Trades Union had agreed to withdraw a series of bans.
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