A decision from the Fair Work Commission has ended the Electrical Trade Union’s (ETU) industrial action at Endeavour Energy, with the utility working to assist impacted communities and customers.
On 6 November 2024, the Fair Work Commission Deputy President, Thomas Roberts, made the decision to order an intractable bargaining declaration, which immediately ends the protected industrial action by the ETU.
Endeavour Energy said that this decision will bring relief to customers and developers trying to safely connect homes, businesses, Federal and State Significant Projects, hospitals and social housing to its network.
The utility said it will now focus on assisting affected businesses to help address the significant backlog of connections to its network.
Helping these businesses will be a key priority for Endeavour Energy, while it ensures that it maintains its commitment to the health and safety of its workforce with the big work program ahead.
The intractable bargaining dispute follows exhaustive attempts by Endeavour Energy to finalise a new enterprise agreement, which nominally expired in December 2023.
The utility said it held more than 60 meetings with the bargaining team to try and reach an agreement.
Endeavour Energy’s most recent wage offer featured record wage increases, coupled with a package of improved conditions without any productivity or efficiency trade-offs.
Endeavour Energy had sought the assistance of the Fair Work Commission to mediate between the parties and repeatedly asked the ETU to pause protected industrial bargaining to relieve the pressure on customers seeking to connect to the network.
The utility said that protected industrial action has had a devastating impact on many businesses that its customers and communities depend on – they have been the innocent parties in this dispute and so this is welcome development.
The bargaining representatives will now participate in a 14-day post-declaration negotiation period.
The Fair Work Commission determined that a 14-day negotiation period was appropriate to provide the best chance of narrowing the considerable number of issues in dispute, to make the subsequent proceedings more efficient and timely.
The post declaration negotiation period finishes on 20 November 2024.
Any matters that remain outstanding at the end of the post-declaration negotiation period will be arbitrated by the Fair Work Commission as part of a legal process.
Featured image: Endeavour Energy.
