TasWater worker strike won’t affect water supply, union assures

TasWater workers’ industrial action will not affect customers’ water supply, the union says. LATEST DETAILS >>

TASWATER customers do not need to fear their supply or safety will be affected as workers take industrial action, the workers’ union says.

The Australian Services Union said the industrial action was only in stage one and work bans were just administrative for now.

However, if no deal is reached between TasWater and the union, those bans may escalate.

The ASU said TasWater had agreed to come back to the table and negotiate.

TasWater strike could affect local water supply, says union

STRIKING TasWater workers have warned Tasmanian residents their water supply could be affected by the industrial action that started on Thursday.

The Australian Services Union said TasWater customers were likely to experience service disruption as workers took protected industrial action including a ban on using computers and mobile phones and not creating work orders and service requests.

TasWater CEO Mike Brewster said customers could be assured TasWater would be there in the face of an emergency or fault despite the industrial action.

It comes after TasWater workers rejected management’s proposed enterprise agreements covering staff in the North-West, South, and North as well as senior TasWater employees.

“So strong was opposition to TasWater’s offers, one proposed enterprise agreement received

support from just 13 per cent of employees who would be covered by it,” the union said.

ASU Vic Tas secretary Lisa Darmanin said any further disruption could be avoided by

TasWater negotiating with unions on employees’ legitimate demands.

Mike Brewster CEO TasWater. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

“This disruptive industrial action could have been avoided if TasWater had chosen to make a

fair wage offer and addresses workers’ legitimate concerns,” Ms Darmanin said.

“The resounding rejection of TasWater’s enterprise agreement offers is a powerful message

to TasWater’s Board that workers expect much, much better than has been offered.

“The widely reported exorbitant wage increases and remuneration received by TasWater’s

CEO just rubs salt into the wounds of our members’ rejected claims.”

TasWater said it had heard the views of its workforce and would resume good faith negotiations in a bid to finalise new Enterprise Bargaining Agreements as soon as possible.

Ballots on the original wage offer closed on Tuesday. The majority of employees who voted have not approved the proposed agreements that contained the offer of 2.5 per cent each year for three years.

TasWater CEO, Mike Brewster said the business was committed to returning to the negotiating table.

“Our priority has always been to minimise the cost of delivering services to our customers, while providing fair salary increases to our workforce and favourable working conditions,” Mr Brewster said”

“We need to strike the right balance that allows this business to operate sustainably into the future.

“I don’t believe our position is too far apart from the union’s and our broader workforce and I am hopeful that we can resolve this issue through good faith negotiations.”

“We are committed to providing continuity of service across all areas of the business. I can assure customers that we will be there to assist in the event of any emergencies or faults.”

TasWater workers to take industrial action in coming days

UNIONS have warned about disruptions, with members employed at TasWater expected to take industrial action from next week as they push for safer on call arrangements and wage increases.

Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union organiser Lee Archer said the union’s members would begin 15 minutes work stoppages from Wednesday.

“We’re renegotiating the agreements that expired in June, TasWater pulled away from negotiations and decided to go with what they think,” she said.

“The company has put agreements out to a vote and that closes on the 21st and if that’s voted down we will be wanting to get them back to the table.”

The TasWater spokeswoman said the offer on the table strikes the right balance that will allow the business to operate sustainably into the future.

“TasWater has accepted many of the unions’ claims and has offered a reasonable remuneration increase, including 0.5 per cent superannuation increases that align to the superannuation contribution guarantee increases and increases to salary and allowances,” she said.

“If any of the enterprise agreements are not successfully approved by employees, TasWater will re-enter negotiations with unions for those enterprise agreements.”

Members from several other unions including the Australian Workers Union and the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union were also expected to take part in the industrial action.

Ms Archer said the concerns about on call conditions related to a number of departments including fault crew.

“If you have someone on call 24/7 week on week off that’s a fatigue issue,” she said.

“If you’re an apprentice you’re not allowed to be on call, if you’re a trainee they’re putting them on call and as far we are concerned that isn’t safe.”

She said it had been an ongoing problem for workers.

“Many of these claims are to repair the huge damage TasWater did to frontline services when they slashed jobs in 2019.”

The TasWater spokeswoman said they were committed to maintaining a safe work environment and safe systems of work, and that included on call arrangements.

They said considerable planning had been undertaken to minimise the impact of any industrial action on customers.