The lack of progress on enterprise agreement negotiations, including 15 meetings over six months, is why workers at Hydro Tasmania are taking strike action the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) said on October 4.
Hydro Tasmania鈥檚 offer has been rejected by workers and all CEPU members鈥 claims have been rejected by Hydro Tasmania.
Workers started rolling strike action with a full-day state-wide strike on October 5.
The union said the action 鈥渨ill throw planned essential routine maintenance and outages into chaos and could even end up in rolling blackouts in some areas鈥.
The CEPU said the blame should be laid at Hydro Tasmania鈥檚 management team.
鈥淟ike a lot of workers around the country and the world, CEPU members have been left with no choice but to fight for a fair and reasonable outcome,鈥 CEPU state organiser Chris Clark said.
He criticised the Hydro board for paying its executives 鈥渟alaries of half a million dollars a year, plus huge 15% bonuses鈥 while refusing to 鈥減ut a fair and reasonable offer on the table for the workers keeping the lights on鈥.
鈥淲e live in a day and age where every time workers ask for a fair share, they get told there isn鈥檛 enough to go around.
鈥淲orkers deserve a pay increase that keeps up with the cost of living now and into the future as a bare minimum.鈥
Clarke said workers were not just after a pay rise but for a fair workplace culture.
He said Hydro Tasmania 鈥渉as been falling apart at the seams for some time鈥 with the procurement of substandard parts and equipment 鈥渃osting millions in lost聽production鈥.
He said hundreds of years of skills and knowledge have walked out the door 鈥渄ue to the toxic work environment鈥. He also cited the Bass Link 鈥渄ebacle鈥; poor supervision of apprentices and understaffing as other problems.
The Hydro is 鈥渏ust another example of a failed government-business enterprise model鈥, Clarke said, where 鈥渕anagement and the board are more focused on their own individual KPI-driven bonuses than delivering good outcomes for the Tasmanian community who built and own Hydro Tasmania鈥.
鈥淲hen can workers expect that good paying jobs become the focus for creating a better future rather than a continued race to the bottom to maximise profits?鈥, he asked.