Illawarra rail workers were "ready and waiting to start work" at Wollongong Station depot on Monday, after the train system was plunged into chaos due to a dispute between the government and unions.
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"We want people to know that we're not on strike, we want to work," local Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) councillor Paul Dornan said.
"We've got a meal room full of us ready to work."
Tens of thousands of commuters from Sydney and the Illawarra were left stranded by a network shutdown, after trains were stopped from running by the state's transport agency early on Monday.
The NSW government and rail unions have been undergoing months of industrial negotiations over workplace conditions and safety of the rail system.
They met at the Fair Work Commission over the weekend, where Transport for NSW says the union agreed to removing several industrial measures, including an overtime ban for all employees.
However, negotiations broke down on Sunday evening, with the state government then deciding it would be impossible to safely operate services due to planned union action.
RTBU NSW Secretary Alex Claassens said workers had planned to "take part in low level protected industrial action which would not have impacted commuters", only to be told by management that trains would not be running at all.
"Workers were prepared to take protected industrial action, but only transport management would have noticed the impact, not commuters," he said.
"The impact to services today is not because of workers' actions, but because the NSW Government is spitting the dummy and trying to make a point."
But NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and Transport Minister David Elliott placed the blame on the unions, with Mr Elliott accusing the union of "hijacking the city".
"I have been negotiating with unions for 20 years and I haven't seen this sort of behaviour for quite some time," Mr Elliott told 2GB.
"Why the hell would I want a strike to occur the day universities are going back?"
Mr Perrottet said he had been told by Sydney Trains management that they had no alternative "based on safety" but to shut down the system.
"This is a concerted, predetermined campaign by the union movement," he said.
"At that late hour it was impossible in terms of safety. They could not turn around and change the timetable at that time in a way that would be safe for consumers."
However, local workers were keen for people to know they had not walked off the job - with one long serving Illawarra driver saying "we find it offensive that we're getting blamed for this".
Mr Dornan said he had first heard of the lock out around midnight when "a driver from Kiama rang and said he'd been put in the yard and told no trains were running".
"Everyone has been coming in ready to work, every depot across NSW is full of drivers and guards ready to work. We're here getting paid - if anything, it's a government strike."
South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris said the government had made "the dummy spit from hell".
"After failing to convince the independent umpire, the NSW Government has taken it out on the commuters of NSW," he said.
"Imagine rocking up to work today and finding out that your boss is on strike, and worse, blaming you for the damage. It's not right and we think the people of the Illawarra will see it for what it is."
He said the rail unions had been "walking on eggshells and bending over backwards" to make sure train services kept running despite their industrial action.
"What does the NSW Government do? It loses a round in the industrial commission and it goes nuclear," he said.
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