… a second time today with a 65% NO Vote from its employees
In what can only be described as a very rare event in industrial relations the NO margin actually increased significantly indicating the company is now even further away from securing a replacement agreement.
State Secretary Trevor Gauld said the increased No Vote was a result of voter backlash against an out of touch Executive Team.
“You can’t strip away workers’ wages and conditions while simultaneously giving yourself 7% to 8% pay increases and declaring strong profits. CEPU members have barely finished putting the network back together in the North West of the state after the bushfires and are now struggling to manage the energy crisis and their only reward is an offer to reduce their wages and conditions. What a disgraceful way to treat Tasmania’s dedicated essential energy service workers.”
In a sign of the likely escalation of the industrial dispute, TasNetworks immediately emailed staff explaining they will defer negotiations causing them to recommence in the peak of the worsening energy crisis.
“The CEPU has tried everything; we offered deferring negotiations till after the energy crisis by rolling over the agreement, we approached the CEO and the Energy Minister’s Office and have received no response, we offered moving the negotiations to an independent umpire which was rejected completely. 18 months into negotiations they are only just now considering their commercial position, this is a company that is completely out of control.”
Comparison of voting on proposed agreements.
1st Vote 2nd Vote
22/12/2015 11/04/2016 Difference In Numbers
Total Ballots Issued 888 875 -13
Total Returned 746 714 -32
Invalid Votes 11 3 -8
Yes 324 245 -79
No 404 466 +62
Trevor Gauld State Secretary CEPU – Tasmania
