A pay dispute between TasNetworks and the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) has slowed efforts to fix extensive power outages in Launceston, leaving thousands of homes and businesses in the dark.
The problems began around 5am on Tuesday, with initial outages affecting over 500 customers in the Invermay area. By Wednesday morning, 20 customers in Inveresk were still without power, while two new outages had emerged.
One of the new outages affected 278 customers in Invermay and Mowbray, while the other impacted 41 in Invermay.
ETU Organiser Chris Clark says union members are engaged in industrial action, which involves a switching ban that prevents them from restoring power beyond ensuring public safety.
“This was not something we wanted to do,” Clark said. “We have been forced to take industrial action so that the board and the minister will take members’ claims over the same job, same pay seriously.”
TasNetworks CEO Sean McGoldrick acknowledged that the industrial action has delayed efforts to restore power to the University of Tasmania campus, with students unable to attend classes in-person on Wednesday.
“Union-led industrial action will cause some disruption and delay for TasNetworks and customers,” he said.
“We feel strongly that essential services like education should be protected. Students are not part of this dispute.”
McGoldrick says the new contract offered to workers would “support and reward” them “better than ever before” without increasing electricity prices.
He has suspended all routine planned work until Sunday to prioritise responding to unplanned outages and minimise the impact of the union action.
In a statement, the University of Tasmania said power had ‘finally’ been reinstated at its Inveresk campus on Wednesday evening, however the campus will remain closed on Thursday.
“Testing is still being conducted by the University and TasNetworks to ensure power is stable and that we can operate effectively to support a full return to campus,” they said.
“We will continue to test the system [on Thursday] to ensure all essential services are fully functional before on-campus classes resume from Friday 23 August.”
