November 18, 2014
The Electrical Trades Union and The Services Union have accused the State Government of “blatant political interference” in Enterprise Bargaining negotiations at Energex, Ergon and Powerlink.
Queensland Treasurer Tim Nicholls announced last week that he had agreed to a request from Ergon, Energex and Powerlink to include a “no forced redundancies” clause in their offer to workers during current enterprise negotiations.
But the employment security provision would come into effect only if workers voted for the agreements offered.
ETU spokesman Stuart Traill said the recently expired agreements already contained job security clauses.
“They are offering nothing we don’t already have, in fact they’re worse. they take away job security for future employees,” he said.
“This is a disgraceful, deceitful way of bullying workers to accept agreements that have not been fully negotiated, agreements that are not approved by the union parties because they do not provide adequate safeguards around safety issues.
‘They also slash apprentice numbers and rip away wages and conditions through the unfettered use of contractors.
“We have long argued that in the current climate, given that all three companies are in the gun for privatisation if the LNP win the State election which is due within months, we should look to roll over current conditions for a period of time until workers know what their future looks like.”
The Services Union secretary Neil Henderson said his union was urging all electricity workers to reject the offers.
“The facts are clear, while we support job security, we are of the belief it should never have been considered for removal anyway, and therefore it should never have been used as a wedge to undermine current conditions, safety provisions and future jobs,” Mr Henderson said.
- Related article: Job Security Carrot Offered To Power Workers
