NSW rail dispute ends as agreement reached in fair work commission
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This is huge breaking news. There has been a resolution in the long-running dispute between the New South Wales Government and the Combined Rail Unions. The industrial dispute that has brought Sydney to its knees over the past at least 12 months. It would appear the industrial action is over. The dispute has been settled. I've just been handed some information that says an agreement has been reached between the State Government and the Combined Rail Unions in the Fair Work Commission.

This brings the end of the industrial dispute that's caused so much disruption over the past 12 months. There is a proposed enterprise agreement. It has been facilitated by the Fair Work Commission and it will provide rail workers with a 12% increase over three years plus back pay. And I should point out that's much, much lower than what the railway workers were after. This will deliver apparently a number of technology-based solutions to improve recovery times when there are incidents on the tracks to bring the system to a halt.

For example, train crews will support the introduction of a new digital disruption management system that will end the current practice that relies on a manual system of phone calls and paper-based instructions during the recovery from incident. So as well as the pay, basically the unions have agreed that they will move into the 21st century and actually use new technology to help resolve problems on the rail network when the ageing infrastructure fails. Well, that's a good thing.

So there had been a ban on industrial action up until, I think it was the end of June. So time was running out given June's on Sunday, June begins on Sunday. So this is a massive breakthrough. Finally, it would appear there's an end to the dispute. The Minister for Transport, John Graham, says the agreement will bring relief to the disruption from industrial action that around a million people a day have been forced to endure. The process has been strained. The patience of train commuters is, we're thinking,

The much needed reset allows us to implement improvements for passengers with the full support of the rail workforce and unions. The Treasurer Daniel Mookie says this is a positive result for rail workers and for commuters. Rail workers will be better off with a fair wage increase. Commuters will have greater certainty the city will be better off. So just repeating, the long-running dispute between the combined rail unions headed up by the RTBU and the state government is over. There will be a 12% pay rise over three years.

and there'll be no more strikes.