LEETON shire Essential Energy staff will likely be among hundreds across the state to lose their jobs in an upcoming cull of staff.
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The Electrical Trade Union (ETU) believes Essential Energy’s hierarchy knows where and what staff will no longer have positions under the cuts.
“They are definitely being coy about it,” ETU assistant secretary Neville Betts said.
“In my opinion I definitely believe they know what location jobs are going to be lost from, not just the region.
“It’s going to have a devastating impact, particularly on places like Leeton.
“These kinds of things affect the economy, people will decide to leave if they can’t find work.
“Then you will have kids being pulled out of school if their parents are leaving town … it’s one big snowball affect.”
The job cuts to the electricity network will be applied throughout the state after the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) determined the price of electricity needed to come down. This decision meant jobs would be lost in order to save funds.
Essential Energy's deputy chief executive officer Gary Humphreys said the company was undergoing a significant transformation to “align capital and operating budgets to the AER allowances for 2014-19”.
“The AER's determination in April this year left Essential Energy without funding for an estimated 1395 roles, costing about $15 million per month,” he said.
“Essential Energy is appealing elements of the determination.
“In June 2015, Essential Energy announced its proposal to deliver workforce reductions in two phases. Phase one reductions of 700 roles will be announced in early September and are anticipated to be relatively proportionate across Essential Energy's footprint.
“As part of ongoing consultation with employees and the unions, we are providing details around this plan as it becomes available. Phase two reductions of 695 roles will be announced once the outcome of the appeal is known.”
Mr Betts believes the company needs to be more transparent with its staff.
“It’s been an incredibly stressful time for staff,” he said.
“They need certainty. This is going to affect the network itself as well. Less staff will mean longer blackouts during storms and the like. Less staff, but still the same amount of work.”