Sydney train drivers announce huge backflip – here’s what it means for New Year’s Eve

Commuters should be given more time to spend with their families and less time on platforms after a major union buckled under pressure over work bans.

Amid concerns about Sydney’s world-famous New Year’s Eve party, the state rail union lifted eight major work bans late on Monday.

They include distance limits for drivers and several signal bans that led to more than 680 cancellations this weekend.

It represents a major setback on the eve of a legal battle against work bans on safety and other grounds.

The Rail Tram and Bus Union NSW sees the changes as necessary to deter actions that ‘effectively suppress’ the bargaining strategy.

“While it is frustrating to have to adjust our planned actions, our ability to pivot and respond strategically is crucial in the face of these unfair and immoral maneuvers,” Secretary Toby Warnes told members Monday evening.

It means New Year’s Eve revelers and the businesses that depend on them will no longer have to wait anxiously for the industrial umpire’s call on potentially crippling train delays and cancellations.

Pub and bar operators, a casino and the NSW Labor government planned to argue on Tuesday that the work ban for machinists, scheduled for the New Year, would cause significant harm to third parties and potentially endanger lives.

The hearing at the Fair Work Commission comes after police warned of “serious safety concerns” as a million people along the harbor struggled to leave after the midnight show.

Organizers say the fireworks will be viewed by another 400 million people worldwide.

The economic impact is estimated at $280 million.

New Year’s Eve is also the busiest day on Australia’s largest rail network, with people rarely commuting all night across the state.

About 3,200 services run approximately every five minutes throughout the day, with things becoming difficult an hour after midnight when the masses try to leave together.

The union and the government remain poles apart after seven months of wage negotiations.

Unions continue to demand four annual pay rises of eight per cent, but Premier Chris Minns says this is unaffordable and cannot happen as long as he denies nurses an equally expensive claim.

The government has offered 11 percent over three years, including increases in pension benefits.

The work bans resumed on Thursday after a court rejected a government bid to make them illegal.

The story could continue for several more months.

The Fair Work Commission cannot be asked to settle the substantive dispute – pay and employment conditions – until February.