The NSW government hopes an upcoming court hearing will end a pay stoush with rail workers that has repeatedly led to major disruptions to Sydney train services, with officials again warning of potential travel issues on Tuesday.
Widespread absences among drivers and guards led to transport chaos days earlier after an escalation in the long-running stand-off with the Rail, Tram and Bus Union.
The Fair Work Commission will hear a case on Wednesday aimed at suspending protected industrial action, with Premier Chris Minns waiting for the outcome before revealing his government's potential next steps.
But he said there was no way the government would take the union up on a proposal to resolve the issue in the lead-up.
Industrial action would be suspended and the commission asked to arbitrate a $4500 payment for workers on the start of a new enterprise agreement if the government did not seek to alter any conditions agreed in previous negotiations.
"This proposal provides a pathway to resolving the dispute without further industrial action or delay," the union's NSW secretary Toby Warnes said in a letter to transport department secretary Josh Murray.
The $4500 payment had been included in the previous agreement but not brought up during months of discussions before negotiations broke down, ending with about 850 rail workers not showing up to work on Friday.
But the premier is pushing ahead with the commission hearing.
"I've got no confidence that if we settle on $4500, (the union) wouldn't invent something else to prolong this dispute with," he said on Tuesday.
The government also had undisclosed contingency plans if the hearing did not go its way, Mr Minns said.
But he has also been offered plenty of ideas from political rivals, including a call for the unionised workforce to be replaced with contractors - something he dismissed as being unworkable.
Senior figures in the opposition have called for Mr Minns' federal Labor counterparts to use their powers to end the dispute, but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese backed the premier to resolve what he said was a state issue.
"We're getting to the point where the union needs to see common sense (and) settle this dispute," he said.
Federal opposition workplace relations spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said the Albanese government should have intervened months ago.
"They just don't want to upset their union mates," she said.
The coalition has pledged to immediately intervene if returned to power at the upcoming election.
Negotiations for a new enterprise agreement have dragged on for almost a year and have already come before the commission several times.
The union initially sought a 32 per cent pay rise across four years, but the government offered 15 per cent for the same period, including a federally mandated superannuation increase.
