Sydney train strike: law firm takes legal action to stop ‘excessive’ disruption

A Sydney law firm has taken legal action to stop an impending rail strike that threatens to bring the city’s transport network to a halt.

On Wednesday Harmers Workplace Lawyers made the announcement that it had filed legal action in the Fair Work Commission in its own right, arguing the strike would directly affect its staff, who rely on the city’s trains to travel to work.

In a statement, a spokesman for Harmers said the company had filed the action because the “proposed industrial action is not in the public interest and is excessive”.

“The community – employers and employees alike – should not be exposed to the enormous disruption and economic loss simply because two warring parties cannot agree,” the statement read. “Harmers Workplace Lawyers has legal standing in this dispute because, under the legislation, it would have been directly impacted if this industrial action proceeds.”

The New South Wales government has previously refused to rule out legal action to stop the strike but Harmers said it was acting of its own accord.

The application – which is due to be heard by the Fair Work Commission in Sydney on Wednesday afternoon – adds another layer of complication to the increasingly fraught pay negotiations between the NSW government and the state rail union.

Late on Tuesday the head of the Rail, Train and Bus Union, Alex Claassens, said the terms of a new deal had been reached with Sydney Trains over a new three-year agreement.

The offer was sent to members overnight to allow them to vote by an email poll on whether to accept it by lunchtime on Wednesday.

If they accept, the overtime ban on Thursday would be called off, as would the 24-hour strike planned for Monday.

But now the validity of the union vote is being questioned after up to a third of workers said they had not received an automated text ballot.

Workers must reply “yes” to a text message to support calling off a proposed 24-hour strike on Monday, with a non-reply counted as a “no” vote.

However, many workers posted on the RTBU Facebook page on Wednesday morning saying they were still to receive the text just hours before the midday deadline.

“I would like to know why this has been sent out as an SMS,” one said. “There are many of us on leave at the moment that do not have our work phones with us.”

Another said: “I didn’t get one either. What number do we call to make sure our phone numbers are right?”

With more than 9,000 workers due to stop work on Monday, the RBTU said about 6,500 members had received the text.

The transport minister, Andrew Constance, said the vote on Sydney Trains’ latest offer to workers seemed planned to fail.

“There is so much riding on this strike action, I would find it unbelievable that they have potentially used a process around this that is designed to fail,” he told 2GB.

The RTBU said on its Facebook page: “Due to the large number of texts sent last night we understand that some have not reached members.”

While the ballot will determine whether or not Monday’s strike proceeds, it is too late to stave off major disruptions on Sydney’s rail network on Thursday, according to Constance.

Services will be cut from 2,900 during weekdays to 1,600 due to industrial action placing an indefinite ban on overtime.

Constance said trains would operate on a Saturday schedule, cutting services across the state on Thursday and Friday, the Australia Day holiday.

“Tomorrow is going to be disruptive,” he said on Wednesday.

In its statement, Harmers said it initiated the legal proceedings before the tentative agreement but that it would go ahead if the rail workers did not accept the pay deal.

“Our considered view is that the proposed strike is not ‘protected’ under the legislation but is to a significant extent an old-fashioned ‘demarcation dispute’,” the statement read. “We will be requesting the commission issue orders to stop the industrial action if the industrial action is not called off.”

The union initially wanted a 6% pay rise and improved conditions, with members now considering a 2.75% increase as part of a package including free bus travel and a one-off $1,000 payment.

It comes amid recriminations over the Sydney rail crash that saw 16 people taken to hospital when a train failed to stop before hitting barricades at Richmond station on Monday.

On Wednesday the state government was criticised by some transport experts for the slow rollout of an automatic train protection system, or ATP, that it promised to introduce four years ago.

The ATP monitors train speed and can override drivers to apply emergency brakes.