October 23, 2012

The Electrical Trades Union says the “real agenda” behind recent job losses at Stanwell has been exposed: sack the permanent workforce and replace it with contractors.

The union reacted angrily today to the news that redundancies announced at Tarong Power Station would affect permanent employees only.

ETU State organiser Jason Young accused Stanwell of breaching the recently completed Enterprise Agreement and conducting itself in “bad faith”.

“Stanwell’s Tarong Manager Dennis Franklin said today contractors will not be removed from the site,” Mr Young said.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that Tarong intends to make parts of its permanent workforce redundant whilst contractors will continue unabated. This is clearly unacceptable and our members are angry about this development.

“Tarong management has made this decision without consultation and we believe in direct breach of job security and contracting out provisions of the Enterprise Bargaining Agreement.

“The ETU will not stand by and let Tarong run roughshod over their legal obligations to our members.”

The ETU is currently meeting with its members to develop a plan of action.

Related Article: Union Shock As Jobs Axed At Tarong