More strikes ‘inevitable’ in NSW as government ramps up anti-union rhetoric

The New South Wales transport minister, David Elliott, began Monday on a rhetorical cliff and saved strolling.

On Sydney radio station 2GB, Elliott described industrial motion taken by the state’s rail staff as “terrorist-like exercise”, then accused the Rail, Tram and Bus Union of appearing like “cowards”, spreading “bullshit” and “hijacking town”.

At a rapidly organized media convention a number of hours later, he successfully accused union members of looking for to vary the federal government. The industrial motion taken by the rail union was designed to “bully the citizens” into voting for Labor, in addition to “disrupt the restoration from Covid”, he mentioned.

Elliott was not alone. The prime minister, Scott Morrison, weighed in, additionally on 2GB, to sentence the “strike”, whereas the NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, described the motion as a “coordinated assault by the Labor get together and the union motion”.

Labor and the union motion, Perrottet mentioned, have been “in mattress with one another to trigger mass destruction in our metropolis and our states”.

The union flatly rejected the federal government’s description of their industrial motion as a “strike”, calling it a “low stage” measure that wouldn’t have affected companies. Because the day went on it grew to become clear the federal government had taken the extraordinary step of closing down the transport community as a result of it had “misinterpreted” an settlement it struck with the union throughout negotiations over the weekend.

Employees had turned up for his or her shifts on Monday to search out they'd been locked out by the transport division. “The NSW authorities is spitting the dummy and attempting to make some extent,” the RTBU secretary, Alex Claassens, mentioned.

Whereas the federal government accused the union of taking politically motivated industrial motion, Elliott’s interventions on Monday have been revealing when it comes to his personal focus.

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All NSW trains cancelled amid industrial dispute however union says it isn't a strike – video

Neither his 2GB interview or the snap press convention – which some media weren't alerted to – have been held with transport officers who might have defined, for instance, what contingency measures had been carried out to help commuters throughout the shutdown of the community.

Nor was the federal government in a position to clarify – past citing the security issues of those self same absent transport officers – why the community wanted to be abruptly shut down when the union had publicised its intention to take restricted industrial motion as early as Wednesday final week.

Certainly Perrottet was requested on Monday on whether or not the shutdown was a replica of Qantas’ choice in 2011 to floor its fleet amid an industrial dispute, a step which prompted the Truthful Work Fee to terminate the employees’ motion due to the danger to the financial system. He denied that was the case.

By Monday night, the federal government had backed away, with restricted companies to run on Tuesday and the Coalition agreeing to “proceed to barter with the unions and work via their checklist of claims”. Elliott’s dealing with of the matter was being questioned by senior ministers and the union had dedicated to proceed its deliberate industrial motion after crowing the transport minister had “backed down”.

“To intentionally shut down the rail community on such a giant day for many individuals, seemingly to allow them to run a worry marketing campaign about unions, is kind of extraordinary,” Claassens mentioned.

However regardless of the messy dealing with of the dispute, the federal government’s choice to lash out on the union on Monday is revealing.

It's actually true that with a federal election looming and the following NSW election solely 12 months away, the union motion is flexing its muscle. Certainly, Unions NSW boss Mark Morey was on the entrance web page of the Each day Telegraph on Monday declaring 2022 could be the yr of the strike if the federal government refused to scrap its 2.5% wages cap.

It was lower than every week in the past that the state’s nurses have been holding their first state-wide strike in nearly a decade exterior the state’s parliament, and lecturers and bus drivers have additionally flagged their intention to conduct additional industrial motion.

The NSW Public Providers Affiliation secretary, Stewart Little, mentioned his union – which represents jail staff, some training employees and a wide range of different public sector staff – would additionally take into account taking protected motion if the state authorities moved to repeal Covid-era staff’ compensation legal guidelines.

Little additionally mentioned eradicating the two.5% wages cap – which has been in place because the NSW Liberal authorities got here into energy in 2011 – had taken on a brand new urgency for unions amid growing job pressures throughout the pandemic, in addition to inflation and elevated price of residing pressures.

“I believe it’s inevitable that you simply’ll see extra industrial motion and strike motion,” Little mentioned on Monday.

“The pressures on working individuals are growing and the unions can’t sit by whereas our members are seeing their situations deteriorate.”

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It’s in that context that Elliott, Perrottet and the prime minister’s feedback should be considered. The NSW authorities believes that a yr out from a state election it's being focused by a concerted union marketing campaign.

But it surely additionally sees a chance. By portray Monday’s motion as an “unAustralian” act of “industrial bastardry”, as Elliott did, the federal government is looking for to color the union motion – and with it Labor – as out of contact with the issues of on a regular basis individuals.

“That is reminding me of the way in which they behaved within the Nineteen Seventies, and I don’t suppose they’ve learn the room,” Elliott mentioned on 2GB.

It’s a tactic that has labored earlier than. In spite of everything, the vast majority of Australians are now not members of a commerce union, and plenty of see industrial motion as a disruptive annoyance, and conservative governments typically really feel on protected floor combating a commerce union motion they declare is unrepresentative of common individuals.

The query is whether or not, after two years of a pandemic by which frontline staff akin to nurses, lecturers and, certainly, transport staff, have saved the nation going, it's the authorities that has “learn the room” by choosing this combat.