ESSENTIAL Energy stop work meetings have been held as the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) continues to negotiate enterprise bargaining agreements for employees.
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Stop work meetings were held earlier this month (November) after the ETU claimed the company failed to listen or respect the clear views of loyal employees expressed in two recent ballots.
The ETU says management's proposed wage rises are below inflation and below industry standards as achieved at Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy.
An Essential Energy spokesperson said the ETU action was 'disappointing'.
"The unions refuse to accept that the total cost of their claims of more than 9.5 per cent in the first year isn't acceptable to our customers, our stakeholders and our future business sustainability," the spokesperson said.
"The ETU's actions disrupt Essential Energy customers and stakeholders, with development projects across NSW being impacted.
"Essential Energy has reprioritised planned work to ensure urgent and critical work can be performed as required, to reduce the risk of outages not being responded to in a timely and safe manner. Daily project assessment continues to minimise the impact for developers and contactors across regional NSW.
"Despite our best efforts however, any delays will have a flow-on impact as delaying planned maintenance and improvements, especially at this time of year, causes further delays and increases the risk of unplanned outages.
"Despite the ETU-instigated industrial action, Essential Energy remains committed to the good faith bargaining process with the combined unions to reach a modern Enterprise Agreement."
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