Premier Dominic Perrottet insists negotiations with the NSW rail unions are over and it’s time to vote on a take-it-or-leave it offer – or go to the industrial umpire.

The protracted industrial dispute escalated after the premier threatened on Wednesday to rip up an enterprise agreement on the final day of a month of industrial action causing chaos for commuters.

The premier says an offer will be put to the union for members to vote on, but the government will apply to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to terminate the agreement if there is any further industrial action.

“We’ll obviously protect and maintain the wages and conditions of the workers during that period of time, but we have negotiated now for a substantial period with the rail union in relation to these matters,” Mr Perrottet told ABC TV on Thursday.

“The union has created another issue and another issue and continue to inconvenience the people of our city,” he said.

Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) NSW secretary Alex Claassens says negotiations will continue, despite the premier’s threat, which he dismissed as “empty rhetoric” on Wednesday.

“There is no way they’re allowed to do that … there are laws in this country,” Mr Claassens said.

The union has still not been presented with a deed for modifications on the Korean-built New Intercity Fleet (NIF) it believes is not safe to operate in NSW, he said.

One was presented, modified, and sent back to the government for approval on Friday, but Mr Claassens says it has not been returned.

“If the government is talking about reverting back to any of the previous iterations of the deed, then they need to explicitly say that,” he said.

Mr Perrottet says the cost of the modifications is around $1 billion.

Mr Claassens says the union will not take further industrial action for at least the next two weeks.

“After that, we’ll see what happens,” he said.

The FWC rejected the government’s application to force the union to suspend its industrial action in July.

The premier’s threat has garnered national attention with RTBU national secretary Mark Diamond saying he hopes to use the jobs and skills summit in Canberra to put an end to such tactics.

“My intention for this summit is to do everything I can to prevent the ability of employers, like the Perrottet government, from terminating enterprise agreements during bargaining,” he said.

He accused the premier of using the industrial dispute to distract from “the constant stream of scandals” facing the government.

“Unfortunately it’s workers and commuters who are being put at risk by his actions.”

-AAP