Frustrated commuters and rival unions have broken loose after a “rat” strike once again disrupted Sydney’s rail network.
Around 1,000 services, or 80 per cent of the daily total, were canceled on Wednesday and the ongoing strike is expected to cause further chaos for commuters over the next two days.
Delays and work bans by the Electrical Trade Union enacted as part of a long-running pay dispute with the New South Wales government, which is blamed for widespread disruptions that caused some trains to be delayed by up to six hours.
“This is the boa constrictor strangling our network… this is the cumulative impact of hundreds of industrial bans,” Transport Minister Jo Haylen said.
“We are seeing the situation worsen across the network.”
The union’s tactics did not win many admirers on social media.
“This stupid union stunt on trains in and out of Sydney is going to get someone killed,” raged one commuter on X.
“Getting people on trains and then running them at waking pace in the middle of summer means it won’t be a surprise if someone collapses and can’t get help. Don’t make allies here.
Commuters wait at Sydney Central Station on Wednesday after a strike plunged the network into chaos.
Another added: “What you don’t understand is that due to COVID, between 2020 and 2022 most Australians didn’t get pay rises.”
‘Since then most Australians have had a maximum of 2-3% per year! Sydney Trains employees have continued to receive pay increases during COVID. I hope everyone gets karma for this.’
A third wrote: ‘Bro can Sydney have automated trains already? Screw the trains and especially screw the train staff.
Another responded: ‘The great irony of the Sydney Rail Union strike is that all driverless trains work fine.
‘If you’re fighting for a pay rise, AI will replace you anyway. Perhaps it demands some skill upgrading instead. We won’t need to pay $150,000 a year for someone to make a train stop and go.’
Managing director Jack McGuire of the Red Union Support Hub, a group of non-partisan workers’ associations seeking to challenge traditional unions, criticized the strike as a “nonsense” way to “create headlines”.

Some social media users were concerned that the crowds created by the reduction in train services could be a safety issue.
While he could not comment on the details of the negotiations between the unions and the NSW government, Mr McGuire said “there are many ways to skin a cat in any industrial dispute, particularly with a government”.
“These guys are looking for ways to create headlines and get people talking,” Mr McGuire told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday.
‘We prefer industrial action that puts pressure on politicians and bureaucrats and not on the general public.
‘There are other ways to create embarrassment for politicians that don’t necessarily affect the public: the job can be done in a different way than usual.
‘We’ve been able to do reasonably well with all our unions getting pay rises without being too silly about it.
“We typically remove some of the administrative and reporting stuff that politicians and bureaucrats really love.”
“That leaves them nothing to do and puts pressure on them without impacting the public.”

Red Union Support Hub CEO Jack McGuire believes public disruption should be avoided during strike
One possible tactic unions could adopt is not charging fares, which hurts travelers.
“We’ve been able to be successful without having to completely retire labor and without being disruptive,” Mr. McGuire said.
“If you want to borrow some of our negotiators, you are welcome.”
McGuire, who was a member of the Liberal Party before creating the Red Unions, hopes for more industrial action but believes they will not address the core problem.
“One of the biggest problems facing the country right now is that inflation is skyrocketing,” he said.
“The root cause of this is government spending, the massive increase in the money supply, so of course there will be inflation, it’s all these politicians’ fault.”

Sydney train commuters have been warned to expect further delays on Thursday and Friday.
‘When you see rampant inflation in the economy, it is essentially a silent tax on the population, affecting the workers and the less fortunate.
“So the only mechanism workers have to ensure their dollars have the same purchasing power as last year is to take industrial action because politicians won’t recognize they are part of the problem.”
McGuire said the red unions were initially formed during the pandemic period to cater for Queensland nurses concerned their union was being compromised in its dealings with the then state Labor government.
As a result, the red unions have it in their constitution that they will not financially support any political party, unlike traditional industrial unions affiliated with the Labor Party.
“Workers are flocking to us because they want someone who will focus solely on them and not also worry about getting their colleagues into parliament,” Mr McGuire said, noting that the group numbers 22,000. members.
Delays on the T4 line reached up to six hours before the afternoon rush hour, according to Transport NSW.
Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland warned of major Delays on the Central Coast line on Thursday if it occurs overnight. Maintenance work at Gosford was not completed as planned.
‘“The advice we are receiving, particularly from the Electricians Union, is that there will be no movement on their work bans this afternoon, and that these types of delays that we have seen today will continue into tomorrow,” he said. On Wednesday.
‘That’s why we ask everyone to plan ahead. If you need to travel tomorrow, stay up to date with the latest information.
The New South Wales government is considering legal options over what it called “intolerable” union work bans, which came amid a long-running pay dispute.

Transport Minister Jo Haylen (pictured) said: “At the end of the day we will see over 1,000 train services cancelled.”
Officials said members of the Electrical Trades Union failed to carry out critical maintenance in two key areas of the rail network on Tuesday night – at Homebush and Bondi Junction – causing major delays.
For services that were running, members of the Railway, Tram and Bus Union deliberately drove trains slower on the tracks, reducing speeds by 23 km/h on lines where trains normally travel at 80 km/h.
By 6.30am, hundreds of train services had already been canceled and many more delayed, causing major disruption as hundreds of thousands of workers tried to get to work.
The NSW government’s long battle with the state’s machinists has seen them offer the union a 14 per cent pay rise.
But the unions have stood firm in their demands, calling for a significant pay rise, a 35-hour work week and a 1 percent increase in their pension.
Eight months into negotiations for a new pay deal, Haylen said the government had offered rail workers a 13 per cent pay rise plus a 1 per cent super-rise over four years.
But that offer was less than half of the rail unions’ combined demands for a 32 percent pay rise over four years (eight percent annually).
Railway, Tram and Bus Union state secretary Toby Warnes said the union was not impressed with the proposed deal.
“The current pay offer, which is the only thing we are exactly sure of, looks a bit light,” Mr Warnes told ABC Radio.
“(The) lack of respect that has been shown towards them, which has an impact on how travelers view our members, is not pleasant, and we would like to see the government change that rhetoric, if it wants us to sit up and properly consider this offer.’
But Ms Haylen said: “This is a fair and reasonable offer which represents a real increase in take-home pay.”
“I would ask that (Labour) consider it and ideally support it so that we can end this dispute and return our train network to an operation that I know you are proud to operate.”
Sydney Trains has set a deadline of Thursday for unions to provide a response in principle to the offer.