The organisational structure of new Tasmanian electricity and telecommunications utility, TasNetworks has been released.
CEO Lance Balcombe said the move was an important milestone in the reform of Tasmania’s electricity sector.
Mr Balcombe also said the release of the structure would end a period of uncertainty for employees of State-owned companies Aurora Energy and Transend Networks which are being merged to create TasNetworks from 1 July, 2014.
“The structure announced today confirms 211 vacancies still to be filled at TasNetworks, with 777 employees having already been directly transferred to the company from Aurora and Transend,’’ Mr Balcombe said.
“While there will be 169 fewer roles in TasNetworks than there are currently at Aurora and Transend many of these roles are filled by fixed term employees and contractors. Permanent employees will have priority to fill the vacancies.
“The announcement presents an exciting opportunity for the employees to be part of the new TasNetworks business and we encourage those seeking to join TasNetworks to submit their applications.
“The merger of these two businesses has had an inevitable human impact and I have been very impressed by the professionalism with which employees of both organisations have cooperated in this process,’’ Mr Balcombe said.
“Throughout the process we, and the Aurora and Transend businesses, have treated employees fairly and respectfully, informing them as soon as possible of changes. This morning we briefed management of both organisations about the TasNetworks organisational structure.’’
Mr Balcombe said permanent employees of Aurora and Transend who have not been directly transferred to TasNetworks have the option of indicating a preference for a redundancy.
“While we wish to retain our talented people in the business, we are giving eligible
employees this option which, if accepted, may be the preferred course for some permanent employees who are not transferred. Employees of both organisations are eligible for extensive support to find employment elsewhere,’’ Mr Balcombe said.
“As the application process only begins from today, it will not be possible to estimate the number of redundancies for many weeks.’’
Mr Balcombe reminded Tasmanians that the merger would create efficiencies that would reduce the costs within the business to the benefit of customers.
