The NSW government will take the rail union to court over a plan to turn off Opal card readers this week.
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) plan to turn off gated Opal card readers between 3pm and 7pm each weekday from Thursday, indefinitely.
The union and government have been locked in heated negotiations for months over a new enterprise agreement that has left Sydney commuters at the mercy of numerous strikes and delays.
Transport Minister David Elliott has said the action is “unprotected” and the government will be seeking damages for the loss of revenue.
“I will be going to the Federal Court to seek damages and repayments from the RTBU for the loss of revenue that will be lost by NSW taxpayers in the course of this action,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
“I‘m calling on the RTBU to set aside this action.
“You‘re only endangering the lives of commuters and you’re only denying the taxpayers of NSW revenue.”
RTBU secretary Alex Claassens said turning off Opal card readers is the only industrial action that doesn’t disrupt commuters.
“The NSW Government has shown time and again that they‘re more interested in using taxpayer dollars on legal fees than they are in reaching an agreement that guarantees the safety of commuters,” Claassens said.
“The government is doing everything except sitting down and trying to reach a genuine agreement.”
Elliott confirmed that the government cannot stop the free public transport but hopes the federal court case will help them to recover some of the revenue loss it creates.
“ It could be in the tens of millions of dollars,” Elliott said.
“The union needs to think very carefully about that because if they’re caught up with recovering the costs and loss of revenue, the union is going to be in a lot of financial trouble.
“I make no apology for that.”
Sydney Trains CEO Matt Longland has warned customers they may be caught out as not all Opal readers will be turned off.
“Customers that are tapping on at one station with a reader and not be able to tap off at another,” Longland said.
“When a reader is turned on, continue tapping your Opal card and we‘ll do everything we can in the background with the Opal system to manage the impact of customers.”
The three-quarters of Sydney train stations that don’t use gated Opal readers will continue operating, Mr Longland said.
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