USU Tells Government: "You're Heading in the Wrong Direction"
By Scott McNamara
USU Manager Energy & Utilities
Sep 1, 2007
The state government has recently commenced a process of assessing the need for a new base load power station in NSW.
This inquiry will be facilitated through the Professor Anthony Owen and has several terms of reference however the one that concerns the union, is the government concern for private investment to build a base load PowerStation. This term of reference has been outsourced to an accounting firm, which appears to indicate the government’s intention.
Full Privatisation If the State Government allows the construction of a private sector electricity generation facility and allows the private sector to participate substantially in the base load system, this would be the catalyst of the movement for the current corporatised electricity industry in NSW to be fully privatised. State owned electricity assets also provide local jobs throughout NSW at Energy Australia, Integral Energy, Country Energy as well as our State owned power generators (power stations) Macquarie Generation, Eraring, Delta and the electricity grid Transgrid – once the Government starts the sale process, the industry knows it will not stop.
Massive Job Loss If privatisation were to occur, many hundreds, even thousands of jobs could be lost to interstate competitors, or even outsourced overseas. At best, the employees would be subjected to the Work Choices Legislation that the NSW Labor Government has so vigorously defended its state workers against. Union concerns have been heightened by senior management of Energy Australia implying that they are gearing up for the sale of retail.
What About Emergencies? Emergency call centre workers at the state-owned energy retailer Energy Australia handled more than 200,000 calls – six times the normal number of calls in an average five-day period – during the peak of the Hunter Valley crisis in June.
Sixty additional workers at Energy Australia call centres in Newcastle and Sydney worked around the clock between Friday 9 June and Wednesday 13 June, with some workers putting in 16-hour shifts.
In the hands of the profit-driven private sector there is no guarantee that the 24-hour service would be retained.
The USU has commenced a campaign to prevent the privatisation in the industry. Delegates from all over NSW distribution industry met in Sydney to discuss a campaign strategy.
The USU formulated the ‘Heading in the Wrong Direction’ campaign across regional NSW, visiting state electricity retail centres in Bathurst, Wallsend, Port Macquarie, Queanbeyan and Huntingwood.
In conjunction with all energy unions and with the assistance of Unions NSW the USU has held meetings within the generation companies of the industry in a sustained campaign to halt the blatant money grab by the government that would destroy local a regional employment and services.
