By Chris Spindler
and Arun Pradhan
MELBOURNE — Eighty maintenance workers at the Yallourn power station have been locked out for 25 days. The lockout came after union members imposed bans on January 10 in an effort to halt the power station management's proposed changes to workers' hours and the introduction of contract labour without union consent. The company plans to lock out 400 other Yallourn Energy workers to escalate the dispute.
The unions say the changes threaten job security. Yallourn Energy is attempting to cut out penalty rates, which would mean the loss of up to $500 a week for some workers, and replace full-time employees with contractors.
The dispute escalated in early January when talks over a new enterprise agreement broke down. Greg Warren, an Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) organiser in La Trobe Valley, told Green Left Weekly that Yallourn Energy then tabled its "new vision" for the next 30 years. In negotiations with the union, management has pointed to its operations in India, which its claims run "more efficiently".
Following a series of power blackouts which affected some 413,000 homes across the state, Labor Premier Steve Bracks threatened to invoke emergency sanctions against the unions. Bracks' said that if the dispute is not resolved, the government will invoke its powers under the Electricity Industry Act to order a return to work or seek arbitration through the Industrial Relations Commission.
Under the Electricity Industry Act, individual workers could face fines of up to $10,000, and unions up to $1 million, if they do not abide by an order to return to work.
Bracks has also used the dispute to propose a state government industrial tribunal to enable the government to intervene in industrial disputes.
The Yallourn Power workers are looking for support. Messages and donations can be sent via the AMWU or Electrical Trades Union offices in Victoria.