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All eyes will be on the Fair Work Commission on Wednesday morning when it hands down its Workplace Determination for Essential Energy.
The long-running dispute centres on Essential Energy’s move to introduce a new Enterprise Agreement which, it says, will ensure the future of the business. The sticking point was several outstanding Enterprise Agreement clauses that could not be agreed between Essential Energy and the unions, says chief executive officer John Cleland.
“The Commission undertook to make an independent determination on these clauses based on evidence presented by all parties. These centred on consultation, dispute resolution, redundancy and salary maintenance, and outsourcing.
“All other clauses remain unchanged as per Essential Energy’s Enterprise Agreement proposal offered to employees on May 26, 2016, which included a single 2.5 per cent wage increase over the period of the Workplace Determination.”
But the Electrical Trades Union says it fears that the Commission decision could open the floodgates to forced redundancies at Essential Energy, which could see hundreds of highly skilled jobs lost from regional NSW.
ETU deputy secretary Dave McKinley said the decision, to be handed down at 10.30am in Sydney, was the first test of whether the National Party under the leadership of John Barilaro would fight to protect regional jobs. “Before the election, John Barilaro talked a good game, making firm promises that he would lead the charge to protect regional jobs,” Mr McKinley said.
“This week, with all the power that comes from being deputy premier and leader of the National Party, he has chance to put those words into action.”
Mr McKinley also urged Mr Barilaro to meet with power workers and their unions to discuss the impact of job cuts, outsourcing, reductions to maintenance, and privatisation, all of which were harming the regional communities the National Party claims to represent.
Port Macquarie MP Leslie Williams said she would comment once the decision was released on Wednesday.
