Media release – Electrical Trades Union, 3 August 2023
Baking in inequality – a stunning betrayal
The federal Government has been accused of a stunning betrayal after it signed off on a Labour Migration Agreement that will see 400 temporary visa workers brought into the country to work on renewable energy transmission infrastructure at cut price wages, jeopardising the existing workforce.
The Electrical Trades Union is vowing to bring the issue to a head on the floor of Labor Party National Conference in a fortnight.
The $2.3bn EnergyConnect electricity interconnector is a 700km 330kv transmission line being built between Wagga Wagga NSW and Robertstown in SA, with a connection to Red Cliffs in Victoria, connecting grids across the three states.
The Labour Migration Agreement was sought by Green Light Contractors, the principal contractor on the project, despite it already have a contractor workforce performing the work. The Labour Migration Agreement approved by Minister Giles effectively bakes that exploitation in, codifying the company’s ability to pay workers $10 less per hour than the current workforce.
“This is a disgraceful move from Minister Giles who should hang his head in shame” said Allen Hicks, ETU NSW Secretary. “His rhetoric on migrant workers does not match his actions. He has today rubber stamped workplace inequality based on visa status.”
Green Light Contractors has previously refused and obstructed ETU organisers attempts to enter the worksite to meet with workers. On May 9 and 10 employees were blocked from talking to an ETU organiser during their lunch break about their workplace rights, with the Union obtaining a federal court injunction to get its organisers onto site. More recently the Union has discovered serious allegations of underpayments and work health and safety breaches.
“This is the very definition of rewarding bad employer behaviour. It is a kick in the guts to everyone who believes in workplace decency. This country was built on migrant labour, but migration of this scale should be permanent and the workers must have the capacity to enforce the same rights and receive the same pay as Australian citizens and employers who want to access migrant labour must first demonstrate a commitment to training local Australian workers.
“We have genuine concerns about the safety of these workers and the Labour Migration Ageement does not mitigate the Union’s concerms.
ETU National Secretary, Michael Wright, said the Union was outraged by the the decision.
“We are stunned by this decision. Australia will not meet its clean energy targets if we continually fail to invest in the workforce skills we need. Decisions like this don’t deliver the promise of Powering Australia. We won’t achieve the social licence needed for the energy transformation if companies can simply avoid offering local communities and local businesses the jobs and wages they need. Decisions like this, which do not guarantee one single Australian apprenticeship, fail to deliver for our workers, our regions, or the energy transition. The Government was fully aware that this company wants access to 400 migrant workers but has not committed to employ a single Australian apprentice on this project, it beggars belief that it would be signed off anyway.
“The ETU will use every political, legal and industrial tool at its disposal to ensure this is the last rotten deal.”
Australia at risk of exclusion from renewable manufacturing boom
Australia risks being left out of lucrative new markets for renewable energy-related manufacturing unless the government provides an urgent, domestic response to match powerful incentives introduced by the U.S and several other industrial nations.
The finding is published in a new report released today by the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work, as part of the 4th National Manufacturing Summit, being held in Canberra.
Key points:
- There is an overseas manufacturing boom in the productions of batteries, electric vehicles, renewable energy generation and transmission equipment, and other renewable energy products.
- This boom is being driven by incentives provided by the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, and similar supports in the EU, China, Japan, Korea, and Canada.
- Meanwhile, Australia is considering its response, but no clear strategy has been announced.
- The report estimates the proportional investment required to match the American IRA in the Australian context at between $83 to $138 billion over 10 years in fiscal supports and incentives to match U.S. benchmarks.
- Several qualitative best practices should also be included in the Australian response to the IRA to generate maximum economic, social, and environmental impact: these include strong labour and environmental standards attached to subsidised projects, public equity participation, and parallel investments in training for workers to fill the new jobs.
“The extraordinary response by industry to the U.S. measures confirms that these policies are having an outsized effect on the volume and location of sustainable manufacturing investment,” said Dr Jim Stanford, Director of the Centre for Future Work and co-author of the report.
“It also confirms that Australia must move quickly with its response to this new industrial landscape, or risk losing its chance to leverage our renewable energy resources into lasting, diversified industrial growth.”
Charlie Joyce, a research fellow at the Centre and co-author of the report, noted: “The global race for clean technology manufacturing is well underway, and Australia is barely on the track.
“Australia has many advantages when compared to other competitors in this market, including an unmatched endowment of renewable energy sources and ample deposits of critical minerals.
“However, the painful legacy of decades of policy neglect for domestic manufacturing has left our industrial base in poor shape to seize the opportunities opening up ahead of us.
“If we don’t support domestic manufacturing to quickly enhance its production, skills, and technological capabilities, all that will happen is we will replace one set of unprocessed minerals: coal, oil and gas; with another: raw lithium and related critical minerals.”
“Without action, most of the spin-off benefits of the renewable energy revolution for industry, technology, value-added and diversification will pass us by.”
The report estimates the proportional investment required to match the American IRA in the Australian context at between $83 to $138 billion over 10 years in fiscal supports and incentives to match U.S. benchmarks.
“That is a big fiscal ask by any standards, but not out of reach for Australia,” said Dr Stanford. “But the common claim that Australia cannot afford to undertake proportionately equivalent measures is not convincing.”
“Our federal budget is in much better shape than the U.S. And the government has committed to other, less pressing priorities which are just as expensive – such as nuclear submarines, Stage 3 tax cuts, and ongoing fossil fuel subsidies.”
Please see the full report, Manufacturing the Energy Revolution: Australia’s Position in the Global Race for Sustainable Manufacturing, by Charlie Joyce and Jim Stanford.
Coles Head of Energy Jane Mansfield with Origin Zero Executive General Manager James Magill.Media release – Coles Group, 3 August 2023
COLES TO INSTALL SOLAR PANELS ON 100 STORES AS PART OF LANDMARK AGREEMENT WITH ORIGIN
Investment is expected to produce up to 20% of participating stores’ electricity needs on average*
Coles and Origin have signed a landmark agreement which will see the companies co-invest in renewable energy and battery assets at up to 100 Coles supermarkets and liquor stores nationally.
Over the next three years, Coles aims to install 20 megawatts of solar panels on top of 100 stores across the country, with batteries to be installed at one third of the stores to capture and store excess renewable electricity generated on-site.
Coles’ rooftop solar, batteries, and energy assets such as in-store heating, cooling and refrigeration systems will be connected to Origin’s virtual power plant to help ease pressure on the energy grid during peak periods of demand.
The alliance between Coles and Origin aims to help reduce each participating stores’ electricity use from the grid by around 20% on average and support Coles to achieve its 100% renewable electricity goals by June 2025.
Solar panel installation is currently underway at six Victorian stores, with installation at all 100 Coles supermarkets, Vintage Cellars, Liquorland and First Choice Liquor Market stores expected to be completed by 2026.
Coles Head of Energy Jane Mansfield said this important alliance will help the retailer lower emissions, reduce electricity consumption from the grid and bring down operational costs, with 20 sites to be completed by next year.
“This alliance with Origin is an important step towards achieving our 100% renewable electricity target by June 2025,” Jane said.
“Over the next three years, we expect to install solar panels on 100 Coles supermarkets and liquor stores. These stores will have on average up to 20% of their electricity needs met by renewable electricity generated on-site*,” she said.
“Not only will this investment in renewables help us reduce our emissions, it will also lower our operational costs and allow us to meet more of our energy needs from our own on-site solar generation,” Jane added.
Origin is one of Australia’s leading energy companies with the ambition to lead the energy transition through cleaner energy and customer solutions. Origin Zero is the part of Origin that works with large businesses like Coles to help meet their energy needs and support them on their journey to net zero with solutions like solar, batteries, energy efficiency, EVs and demand management.
Origin Zero Executive General Manager James Magill said Origin is thrilled to be working with Coles to support its transition to cleaner and smarter energy solutions.
“This is a landmark alliance between two of Australia’s leading retailers across supermarkets and energy which will see the companies co-invest in renewable energy and battery assets to help deliver greater emissions reductions for Coles,” he said.
Today’s announcement builds on the solar panels Coles already has installed on 87 stores across the country. Other cleaner energy initiatives by Coles to help reduce emissions include electrification of gas assets, the trial of an electric delivery truck, as well as purchasing renewable electricity from wind and solar farms around the country.
