Waikato-Auckland power link engineers issue strike

Waikato-Auckland power link engineers issue strike notice

Engineers, fitters and other workers in the EPMU issued notice on the weekend of strike action they will take from 26 [corrected] October after talks with their employer, United Group Ltd (UGL), reached an impasse over remuneration and higher payments to Australians working on the Waikato-Auckland power link.

The action will affect around 40 workers employed by UGL, the contracting company for the Northern Grid Alliance building the power link, and will include a ban on overtime, callout and standby arrangements.

“We are taking this action as a last resort after UGL told us they will continue to bring in Australian workers and to pay them up to three times the rate New Zealanders currently receive for the same type of work on the power link,” says Joe Gallagher, EPMU national industry organiser for the electrical sector.

“The Australian workers the company has brought over are being paid more than New Zealand workers on the job. They also get overtime premiums and higher superannuation contributions,” he says.

“This is a classic case of a New Zealand company employing highly skilled workers in a global marketplace wanting to continue paying Kiwi workers low New Zealand wages.”

“UGL has to wake up. The old days are over and skilled workers in New Zealand need wages that make us competitive with Australia.”

The EPMU is New Zealand's largest private sector union, representing 3,000 workers in the electrocomms sector.

ENDS

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