EBA Update

Yesterday the Single Bargaining Unit (SBU) made up of the ETU, TSU and PA met with Energy Queensland with an intent to continue EBA negotiations hoping to get greater clarification on outstanding claims that are vital to attract and retain the highly skilled workforce needed.

Disgracefully management representatives made us wait an hour for them to get a directive from the Energy Queensland Executive Management Team that they had nothing further to negotiate. Yesterday’s meeting was a total waste of our time and is an insult to every worker that is looking to these negotiations to deliver an EBA that is a genuine long-term solution to cost of living pressures impacting us all. Furthermore, they cancelled today’s meeting due to them having nothing more to bring to the table.

Our requests for the 8.63% CPI uplift to apply effective immediately was outrightly rejected by Management.

Whilst there have been some claims agreed to and many more that need further discussions to lock in the details there are a raft of other claims that address attraction and retention.

Here are some of the critical outstanding items:

• Industry standard wages and conditions
• Additional Leave
• 8 day fortnight
• Leave loading
• Incentives to attract and retain staff into support roles
• Pay out of personal leave
• Breaks after Overtime
• Maternity/ Paternity Leave
• Improved Long Service Leave
• Working from Home improvements
• LAHA improvements and recognition for working away from home for extensive periods
• Improved rosters
• Superannuation
• 5% above the superannuation guarantee levy
• Defined Benefit member top up to 12.75%

EQL Managements response to many of our claims are that they must comply with the Queensland Governments wages policy, but the facts are that many Queensland Government public servants get significantly higher conditions than wages policy.

Queensland Police get 18% superannuation contributions and Firies get 14.25%. Good luck to them for achieving those outcomes, but why are EQL workers worth anything less than police and firies?

The reality is without Management agreeing to our claims to align with what is on offer elsewhere many workers will continue to leave EQL and they won’t attract the workers they need for at least the next decade.

Members must be prepared to stick together and take protected industrial action when the current agreement expires. The CPI uplift is only a catchup and does nothing to address the critical attraction and retention issues, we are currently experiencing the greatest churn of workers with countless open vacancies that can’t be filled. This is the best chance this Industry has ever had to fight and win Industry leading wages and conditions.

As always, please make sure that any non-union member joins up to give us greater strength. Members should ask a new workmate if they are in the Union. A worker that refuses to join a Union but accepts the wages and conditions that we have fought for and won undermines our collective strength which none of us should accept.