November 10, 2014
Queensland Treasurer Tim Nicholls has 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 will come into effect only if workers voted for the agreements offered.
Mr Nicholls said Ergon, Energex and Powerlink had written to him asking for a one-off “Essential Services Employment Security” provision to be offered to existing employees.
“Between them, these companies employ almost 8500 Queenslanders working around the State to ensure safe and reliable transmission and distribution of electricity,” Mr Nicholls said.
“The companies have been talking with workers throughout the current enterprise agreement negotiations and they know employment security is a major concern for staff.”
Mr Nicholls said the State Government remained committed to the simplification of employment agreements, including the removal of the “no forced redundancy” provisions for most government-owned corporations.
But he said the power distribution companies faced “exceptional circumstances” which made employment security for existing workers a priority.
Those circumstances include:
- The scale of the companies, their broad reach, and their pivotal role in transmitting and delivering an essential service to Queenslanders;
- The recent release of the Strong Choices Final Plan, which proposes the lease of these assets, subject to the government winning a mandate at the next election.
“Providing employment security to existing employees for the duration of new employment agreements will enable the companies to promote business continuity and stability during a period of potential transition to lease arrangements,” Mr Nicholls said.
He said it was now up to the power companies to make the offer to their employees as part of the enterprise agreement process.
