Electrical Trades Union officials will be in Bulahdelah today Thursday to meet with Essential Energy workers.
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The union will hold a series of meetings on the Mid North Coast to identify a range of cost savings that could avoid the need for forced job cuts.
ETU secretary Justin Page is visiting Essential Energy depots as part of a State-wide effort seeking feedback about localised solutions that could drive new revenue for the company, create greater efficiencies and maintain employment numbers.
The union has already put forwarded a series of proposals to the company that could avoid job losses, including:
- The insourcing of work currently contracted out - as other NSW electricity distributors have done - including pole replacements, service wire replacements, street lighting maintenance, vegetation management, yard maintenance, and information and communications technology (ICT) functions;
- Entry into the contestable metering market, given Essential Energy workers already possess the required skill sets; and
- Entry into the renewable energy market, given the significant amount of renewable projects being constructed across regional NSW.
The NSW Government-owned company last month announced plans to immediately cut 182 jobs across the network, including dozens on the Mid North Coast. The community, which is home to Essential Energy's head office at Port Macquarie, could also suffer the largest share of an additional 500 job cuts that the company is said to be planning during the coming years.
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