Yasi: workers left out to dry

Heather Beck Cairns Post
Tuesday, March 29, 2011

The Queensland Electrical Trades Union has named and shamed a New South Wales power company for failing to fully pay 20 of its cyclone Yasi response workers.

Local ETU representatives have described the behaviour of NSW power company Integral Energy during the cyclone recovery period as “disgraceful and mean-spirited”. In a statement, the ETU said Integral sent 20 workers to Tully to help with the clean-up, but then refused to pay them a Working in the Rain entitlement.

This was “despite the region being one of the wettest in Australia, the fact they were doing outstanding community recovery work in hot, wet conditions and the fact all other power workers around them were receiving the WIR rates”, the statement said. WIR rates are not paid in New South Wales but ETU secretary Peter Simpson said the refusal to pay the rates was “ridiculous” as Ergon had agreed to reimburse interstate companies for the extra payments.

When Integral management at Tully were advised of this, they reportedly threatened to restrict the number of hours each man could work to eight hours a day, instead of the minimum 11.5 hours that other workers were doing to restore power sooner. Integral is now threatening to take action against the ETU with Fair Work Australia and the Australian Building and Construction Commission because they pursued the issue, the ETU statement said.

“It’s really got our hackles up,” ETU Far North Queensland organiser Stuart Traill said.
“We had blokes working with us who were emotionally strained because their houses had been flattened – there’s no way that we would threaten industrial action in that sort of atmosphere.”