Impact on customers of Protected Industrial Action

Since 1 February 2024, the Electrical Trades Union has taken protected industrial action each day for 270 days (aside from 3).

Endeavour Energy said delays to major developments were due to protected industrial action undertaken by the ETU, every day since 1 February, and not due to its scheduling.

ETU members employed by Endeavour Energy are permitted under the Fair Work Act to take protected industrial action which includes turning up to jobs and cancelling them with minutes to spare.

The ETU has cancelled more than 1800 planned outages, needed to work safely on the network.

This creates a loss of about $30,000 for every cancelled outage for contractors and developers, and creates losses for people waiting to move into unfinished developments.

It has also created significant delays to major developments across Endeavour Energy's area including:

• new housing stock, where 51 residential subdivisions across 42 developers are delayed by months, including 3 Landcom and Housing NSW developments offering social housing stock
• small businesses employing tradies and apprentices who have told us they are not likely to survive
• multiple local councils postponing planned maintenance including road upgrades and pole relocations as they cannot afford to incur large losses due of cancelled planned outages due to PIA that would be passed onto rate payers. They are instead choosing to wait until PIA is resolved
• State Significant infrastructure including around the Aerotropolis and Transport for NSW projects, including road widening for the last link of the M7 and M12 connecting roads to the new Western Sydney International Airport
• New hospital developments on the South Coast which only proceeded after Endeavour Energy declared the outage was necessary due to a health and safety emergency
• Warehouse developments that have resorted to using diesel generators to power building sites costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional costs
• Endeavour Energy’s own maintenance program is also impacted, with estimations of a year’s backlog to catch up if protected industrial action was to end this month.

Endeavour Energy has taken significant steps to resolve the dispute. Its bargaining team has met more than 60 times over 12 months to try to reach agreement; it has sought the assistance of the Fair Work Commission to end protected industrial action and it has employed an independent mediator, all without success.

The ETU has not changed its original claim of 24% wage increases over three years and did not attend two of the three FWC s240 process to resolve the bargaining dispute.

The ETU has also not offered any productivity or efficiency offsets for their claims.

Endeavour Energy employees enjoy above average working conditions and wages including:

• total average remuneration of $158,293 for employees covered by the EA from 1/4/2023 to 31/3/2024, including base salary, allowances, overtime, bonuses, and superannuation)
• unlimited sick leave, nine day fortnight and new conditions including increasing out of hours emergency response allowance
• 16.5% superannuation
• significant long service leave entitlements, over double the NSW legislated amount, e.g. an employee with 20 years of service enjoys 35 weeks of long service leave
• access to six months of paid parental leave for either parent during which time Endeavour Energy pays superannuation on both paid and unpaid parental leave
• access to an annual $1000 bonus payment if we achieve set business targets.

Endeavour Energy union members recently voted down Endeavour Energy’ third wages offer which offered in the graphic below:

In an attempt to break the impasse, Endeavour Energy engaged an independent arbitrator who was unable to resolve the dispute.

The Fair Work Commission will now consider whether an intractable bargaining dispute has been met.