May 30, 2019
Workers at the Darling Downs Power Station walked off the job last week, frustrated about the progress of talks for their new Enterprise Agreement after nine months of negotiations. Further stoppages are being considered.
Workers have been attempting to negotiate a new, fairer deal that would remove the current requirement for workers to provide hundreds of hours of unpaid overtime, said CFMEU Mining and Energy Queensland Vice President Shane Brunker.
“They walked off the job in disgust because the company doesn’t appear to be listening to their reasonable concerns,” said Shane.
“Currently, workers are in effect expected to be permanently on call through hours of unpaid overtime being built into their salary.
“This model has left workers angry and burnt out. When they have a break from work, workers want to travel to the coast and spend time with their families – not hover around within range of the power station.”
Workers are willing to compromise on pay rises in order remove the system of unpaid hours owing, said Shane.
“Origin Energy management seem to think they own their workforce, even when people aren’t at work. The workforce has made it very clear that they need to see change in this area.”