Govt Planned for Rail Shutdown

Government planned for Sydney train shutdown days before it occurred

A range of media reports have claimed that senior government officials canvassed the possibility of shutting down Sydney’s rail network days before it happened on Monday 21st February, disrupting hundreds of thousands of commuters.

As the fallout from the 24hour shutdown continued to engulf the Perrottet government, documents released by the Fair Work Commission on Thursday 24 February reveal the extent of preparatory work the government was carrying out on the possibility of a network suspension. The thousands of pages of transcripts and affidavits released by the Commission reveal the possibility of a shutdown had been widely shared within various government departments The Department of Communities and Justice, the Department of Education and the Department of Health also provided affidavits to the Commission on the impacts of industrial action, including a possible two-week shutdown. The revelations prompted the NSW opposition to call for the resignation of Transport Minister David Elliott, who has insisted he was not made aware of the stoppage of Sydney’s rail network until after the decision was made. As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald (24/2/2022) an affidavit from a senior Sydney Trains executive reveals that on Thursday 17/2/2022 the rail operator’s senior leadership “made the decision that the rail network could not be operated for the two-week period” from Monday if the entire fortnight of protected industrial action took place. “Sydney Trains has assessed the risk associated with the industrial action and concluded that the rail network cannot be operated for the two-week period commencing on 21 February 2022,” he said. It was reported that Sydney Trains’ leadership formed the view a day after a risk assessment was completed of the impact of the planned industrial action. The government has maintained that the decision to shut down the network was made around midnight on the Sunday by Sydney Trains Chief Executive Matt Longland. NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns said it was unbelievable that the Transport Minister could not have been made aware of the possibility of a network-wide stoppage, given so many government departments and bureaucrats knew. Mr Minns earlier questioned Premier Dominic Perrottet about whether it was plausible he did not know about Sydney Trains decision to shut the rail network. Under fire in Parliament, Mr Elliott said assessments were completed to ensure that “any potential contingency” was addressed. “Every time a government department faces a dilemma... they do assessments to address all contingencies,” he said. Later, a spokesman for Mr Elliott said the Minister was not made aware of any preparatory work being done in regard to a shutdown of the rail network. A spokesman for the Premier said he was not told of any preparatory work. It was also reported in the Guardian (24/2/2022) that Opposition Leader Chris Minns called for Elliott to be sacked from the Ministry. “David Elliot has to go,” he said. “All of these people all over the NSW government knew about a two week stoppage, but the Transport Minister himself had absolutely no idea. “At the very least, he’s an incompetent minister, not in charge of his portfolio.” He also questioned how it was possible that Premier Perrottet did not know of the looming shutdown.

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RTBU National Secretary fires off at Scott Morrison over Sydney Trains ‘lies’

National RTBU Secretary Mark Diamond has called on Scott Morrison to offer an official apology following the Sydney trains fiasco on 21st February.

Commuters were left stranded at a moment’s notice on the Monday morning of 21 February after the snap decision to halt all trains across the city. Services resumed on Tuesday, with commuters “packed like sardines” across Sydney as trains arrived at stations in half-hour intervals. The NSW Government has since spectacularly dropped all its claims against the Rail, Tram and Bus Union in the Fair Work Commission, after the Union requested to see a copy of the ‘risk assessment’ used to justify shutting down the rail network on Monday 21 February. The NSW Government had dragged the RTBU into the Fair Work Commission late the previous week – prior to it shutting down the rail network - in an attempt to stop workers from taking low-level protected industrial action that would have impacted management, rather than commuters. The protected industrial action is a response to the NSW Government’s refusal to listen to workers’ concerns as part of current enterprise agreement negotiations. “It is now clear that the decision to shut down the Sydney train network had nothing to do with rail workers. It is up to the NSW Government to explain how and why that decision was made,” Mark Diamond said in a media release on Tuesday afternoon of 22 February, accusing both the media and the Prime Minister, who was quick to use the situation to bash the Labor Party and unions, of spreading a false narrative. “For the past two days, Sydney Trains workers have copped abuse from stranded commuters on platforms and on social media because people wrongly believed the cancellation of rail services was due to a union strike.” That belief was fuelled by false statements made on 2GB and repeated at a nationally-televised media conference by Prime Minister Scott Morrison. “Scott Morrison lied about a nonexistent strike to score cheap political points. That lie compounded the anxiety and stress being felt by millions of people in Sydney.” Mr Diamond said it was “utterly bizarre” Sydney Trains workers were being accused of taking strike action. “Strikes are a legitimate industrial tool for workers, but we never take strike action lightly. To be accused of taking strike action, when our members were doing no such thing, was utterly bizarre,” he said. “If Scott Morrison has any decency whatsoever, he will apologise to Sydney Trains workers for his brazen lie. I am happy to take Mr Morrison for a tour of Sydney Trains depots so that he can deliver his apology in person.”

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