UPDATE 2:15pm:
In an overwhelming decision, members of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union have voted to proceed with industrial action on Monday.
Just 5.93% of union members wanted to suspend the strike.
They'll stop work for 24 hours on January 29, leaving Hunter and Sydney commuters without any passenger train services.
While 2900 services are usually in operation across the Sydney CBD on weekdays, tomorrow they'll only run 1600 as rail workers refuse to work overtime hours.
For Hunter commuters, it means they'll have access to rail services operating on a Saturday frequency from Thursday through to Monday when the total stoppage occurs.
Meanwhile, the state government has lodged proceedings with Fair Work Australia in a bid to prevent Monday's strike, and a private Sydney law firm is suing the Union for economic loss as their employees will struggle to get to work.
 |
| A screen grab depicts tomorrow's timetable disruptions on the Newcastle to Central line. Head to Transport Info NSW for all the latest updates. |
EARLIER:
NSW rail workers are expected to decide today whether or not they'll continue with planned industrial action.
Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) members will decide by lunchtime if the offer from Sydney and NSW Trains management is good enough to cancel a ban on overtime tomorrow, but at this stage a 24 hour strike planned for next Monday is definitely going ahead.
It's understood if the industrial action does happen, the Hunter line will be working to a Saturday timetable tomorrow and possibly every day until a deal is struck, and there will be no passenger trains next Monday, January 29.
With workers not doing overtime the network could be plunged into chaos; the RTBU says the railway can't run without workers working overtime because rescources have been run down so significantly.
The offer being put forward to all 6,000 union members is a 2.75 per cent pay increase each year for three years; it also includes travel entitlements and a $1,000 cash payment if the offer is accepted.
Apart from the money side of the offer, a range of items were also put on the table to deal with working conditions, roster conditions and redeployment options in the event of a privitisation of the network.
"Obviously we've been trying to get people to listen to us and our concerns for six months, so it was great to have that breakthrough yesterday in relation to that [working conditions]," said RTBU Secretary Alex Claassens.
He added that it's never been about the money for him, it's been about the working conditions. But in the end, for the members, it does come down to money.
Workers received a text message overnight asking for a YES or NO response on the offer and planned industrial action.
Alex Claassens said it's important the workers get this opportunity to look over the offer and decide for themselves whether it is good enough, and whether it warrants putting the planned industrial action on hold.
"It's disappointing that we're in this position. The Transport minister has unfortunately let it get to this. Finally, we've got an offer that we can put to members to look at, but it's got to be noted that the Minister has been dragged kicking and screaming to this point," said Alex Claassens.
"He didn't want to be a part of it and now he has to deal with the reluctance and unfortunately we've been crying for help for a long time and nobody was listening. We've had to carry this railway on overtime.
"We all like a little bit of overtime, but eventually you get so tired that you cannot function properly and we work in a safe railway and we need to make sure we don't have tired people out there on our railway because that's when accidents happen," said Alex Claassens.
