Power workers vote no confidence in Iemma

More than 200 power workers have moved a motion of no confidence in Premier Morris Iemma and the New South Wales Government over the planned electricity industry sell-off.

The workers from the Vales Point and Lake Munmorah power stations at Lake Macquarie, in the Hunter Valley, met yesterday at lunchtime and did not return to work after the meeting .

The maintenance and administration workers returned at 7:00am (AEDT) today.

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) spokesman Allen Drew says the workers have also signed a petition organised by the Newcastle Trades Hall Council.

"The workers moved a motion ... of no confidence in Morris Iemma, [Treasurer] Michael Costa and the Iemma Government in the way they are handling this process and the lack of consultation," he said.

ETU letter to members

The trouble with the NSW Government’s announcement in relation to electricity privatisation is that it proves that they don’t understand how the sector operates.

I have never heard of a privatisation or long term lease of any electricity industry in Australia, or anywhere in the world, which has resulted in more jobs, lower prices or better service. NSW will not break this trend.

The majority of the ETU’s members employed in the electricity industry will not be affected as this proposal only applies to ETU members employed in the generators or who perform a retail function in the Distributors. All up, this involves approximately 300 ETU members. It is fair to say that the Government has come up with a number of innovative ways to buy their silence, but I think most members will see this bribe for what it is – a bribe of some 40 pieces of silver.

The State Council of the Union unanimously passed a resolution opposing the privatisation proposal and committing the Union to a vigorous campaign of opposition.

The ETU’s anti-privatisation campaign in 1997 wasn’t focused on employees - - - job losses were simply going to be a by-product. Our campaign was based on the long term effects that the Carr/Egan proposal would have on the wider community.

The Iemma/Costa proposal will have the same detrimental effect on NSW families and consumers.

The Premier has offered price regulation for the next five years through IPART. In the state of Virginia in the USA recently, a five year price cap expired. The following day, the privately owned supplier put up prices by a massive 78%!!!!!! Last month, Victorian consumers were slugged with a 17% price hike. The reason is apparently the drought. What a load of crap. Victoria’s major generating source is brown coal. Water is used for cooling purposes only. Obviously the easiest excuse for any politician at the moment is to blame climate change or the drought.

Currently, price spikes from the generators can be absorbed by the retailers because they are both Government owned. Therefore, if a retailer pays more to a generator than they have budgeted for, it doesn’t really matter because the profit of the retailer will fall but the profit of the generator will rise. However, this scenario goes pear shaped once you sell one or the other functions. The Government loses its capacity to “flatten” the market – the result being that consumers will have to pay the real cost, plus profit, of the privatised generator and the privatised retailer.

No matter how you look at it, prices will rise.

I read an article in today’s paper written by Michael Costa where he argued the success of past micro-economic reforms such as the sale of Qantas and the Commonwealth Bank. He claimed no one would support keeping these businesses in Government hands these days.

Every consumer in NSW will suffer if Iemma and Costa succeed. This is a bad idea – it’s bad policy. There is little or no detail, simply headlines and press releases.

Katoomba: meeting to oppose power sell-off

A meeting of people interested in getting the campaign against Power
Privatisation up and running will be held this coming Thursday
evening. Details are below:

PeoplePower Blue Mountains Meeting
8PM Thursday January 17
Upstairs meeting room
Blackburn's Family Hotel
15 Parke Street (next to the fire station)
Katoomba

Items to be discussed at the meeting include planning for:

- Street Stall in Katoomba (and elsewhere?) on Saturday January 19
- Local meeting tentatively planned for Katoomba in February
- Rally in Sydney scheduled for late February
- Local wobble boarding protest
- Letterboxing
- Politics in the Pub event planned for early March

Unions rally against NSW power sell-off

NSW unions and a host of community groups are organising a protest outside Parliament House on February 26, in scenes reminiscent of the infamous 2001 blockade.

Organisers said they would not be seeking to ban MPs from entering the Parliament but would instead be pressuring anti-privatisation backbenchers to speak out publicly against the $15 billion electricity sale.

Despite being opposed to privatisation, MPs failed to force a vote on the matter when it came before caucus because it would have shamed Deputy Premier John Watkins - a left-wing touchstone who would have been forced to vote against his faction because of Cabinet solidarity.

Mr Thistlewaite said MPs would not be barred from entering the building as they were during the 2001 protest against workers compensation reforms.

However, he said they would be pressured to publicly declare their stance either to the crowd outside or to the House.

Mr Thistlewaite will also be meeting community groups as early as next week in an effort to generate a critical mass of mainstream opposition to the sale.

"We've been overwhelmed by the response we've received from members of the community and a number of community organisations," he said.

Power workers take action

Determined opposition to NSW Premier Morris Iemma's plan to sell the state-owned electricity assets has begun, with mass walkouts at four power stations.

Workers at the Vales Point and Munmorah power stations on the NSW central coast, and at Bayswater and Liddell stations in the Hunter Valley, yesterday rejected the $10 billion sale announced by Mr Iemma on Monday.

The NSW secretary of the Electrical Trades Union, Bernie Riordan, said the strikes would not cause power shortages for consumers because skeleton crews had agreed to maintain operations.

He said the decision by the workers to strike with no union officials present sent a strong signal to the Iemma Government about the intensity of the opposition to the Government's privatisation plans.

Workers at two more power stations, Wallerawang and Mt Piper at Lithgow, west of Sydney, are expected to hold meetings and could follow their colleagues out on strike.