Newcastle Trades Hall secretary Gary Kennedy says he expects local unions to spearhead the campaign against power utilities privatisation because the Hunter region will be the hardest hit in terms of potential job losses.
Mr Kennedy says the strategy will focus on enlisting community support to try to overturn the decision, but industrial action by power industry workers is a strong possibility.
"I would not rule it out at all, "he said. "This debate was had and done in 1997, and here we are again with no opportunity to have that raised as an election issue."
"It has been dumped on us cold, straight after the election. People feel betrayed and exceptionally angry."
He says unions could run a campaign similar to the one run against the federal WorkChoices laws.
"We've got a lot of experience with the right-to-work campaign with regards to WorkChoices," he said.
"We have these groups that have been set up and organised. They're very angry, they feel betrayed."
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