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The NSW government has warned unions it will pursue them through the courts and stand down staff if rail workers completely shut down Opal ticket readers at Sydney train stations next week as part of industrial action.

Transport Minister David Elliott said on Thursday that the government had received legal advice suggesting the new industrial action was illegal, and he issued a strong warning to the rail unions to drop their plans.

Transport Minister David Elliott has issued a strong warning to rail unions. Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

“I don’t believe any court in this state would say inciting people to destroy public property is anything but illegal,” he said.

“I’m saying to the unions, if your members deliberately break the law, I will pursue through any avenue I can for those staff members to be charged, prosecuted and sacked.”

The Rail, Tram and Bus Union has advised members to deactivate Opal readers and ticket gates at stations by “pressing the emergency egress button, flicking the internal switch on legacy gates or tripping the circuit breaker”.

“We need to make sure that all gates get switched off and stay off,” the RTBU said in a note to members.

Opal reader machines at Sydney train stations will be completely turned off from next Wednesday if the union action goes ahead. Credit: Peter Rae

While Opal gates have been left open in recent weeks as part of rolling industrial action, the payment system remained online, and almost 90 per cent of commuters continued to tap on and off at ticket gates and pay for their journeys.

If the new action goes ahead, it will make the entire Sydney rail network free for commuters, costing the government millions of dollars each month in forfeited fare revenue.

The rail union has told the state’s transport agency that the deactivation of Opal readers will “continue indefinitely” from next Wednesday.

Elliott described the instructions from the RTBU as a new low because it risked the safety of commuters and amounted to “economic vandalism”. He called on the union to withdraw the instructions and drop the planned industrial action.

“It is also ripping off the taxpayers of this state who paid for this equipment. This is not union-owned equipment. This is equipment owned by the taxpayers of NSW,” he said. “They cannot destroy government property and put people’s lives at risk.”

RTBU state secretary Alex Claassens said the government warnings over the legality of the latest action were baseless.

“If the government has genuine legal advice about our action I’d love to see it,” he said.

“These are the ramblings of a minister who is desperate to distract from the real issue at hand – the safety problems with the new intercity fleet and the NSW government’s failure to give workers fair wages and conditions.”

The RTBU’s latest move to pressure the government in the prolonged dispute over pay and modifications to the state’s new intercity train fleet comes as the two sides are due to continue conciliation talks on Friday under the oversight of the industrial umpire.

Opposition transport spokeswoman Jo Haylen said the conciliation meeting on Friday was an opportunity for the government and the unions to finally reach an agreement.

“This dispute has dragged on for more than a year and the government’s attempts to play politics with it have kept backfiring,” she said.

“As long as this dispute goes on, nobody wins and everyone loses. But the government now has an opportunity to reset.”

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