Workers may hold NBN to ransom, according to industrial agreement

Creation Date: Thu, 09 Jun 2011 GMT

Workers may hold NBN to ransom, according to industrial agreement

The taxpayer-funded National Broadband Network could suffer uncontrolled cost blowouts as unions push for a dramatic expansion of triggers for formal industrial disputes, a new analysis warns.

The analysis, obtained exclusively by The Australian, finds that under an industrial agreement the unions want to apply to contractors who do the rollout, "any imaginable thing" that construction companies do could trigger a formal dispute.

This comes as five major construction companies prepare to meet NBN Co officials today to negotiate terms for up to $400 million worth of work.

This second-round tender follows last week's announcement by NBN Co that Silcar, a joint venture between Thiess Services and Siemens, had won the initial rollout contract, worth $380m over two years.

The contractors meeting with NBN Co are understood to include Transfield Services, a Lend Lease and Service Stream consortium called Syntheo, energy utility ETSA, Leighton Holdings subsidiary Vision Stream and Monadelphous.

NBN Co is expected to focus on the groups providing services to Victoria and Western Australia, as Silcar has secured a year-long exclusive deal to build in Queensland, NSW and the ACT.

But construction executives are concerned about the strong union representation in Victoria on major projects such as the Wonthaggi desalination plant, which could affect negotiations to keep labour costs down.

"We'll need to know what kind of labour index model (on costs) they plan to go with," said one executive of upcoming discussions with NBN Co.

"There's a point at which we need to be able to say that if the price increases by more than X, then we'll need to start splitting the costs, sharing the pain, because we can't be expected to wear all of that."

This is echoed in the analysis by Independent Contractors Australia chief executive Ken Phillips.

Under a framework proposed by the Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union, a dispute could be triggered because a single worker doesn't like their co-workers and wants re-assignment, his analysis finds.

A dispute could also arise if the workplace was "reconfigured", which includes changes of location -- likely when labour may need to be deployed elsewhere to accommodate weather or other delays.

The analysis also finds that unions will seek to be notified on such a wide range of matters that it could affect productivity.

"How a workforce is put together to do the NBN rollout or how the workforce is subsequently utilised become a potential and likely trigger for the union to declare a dispute . . . the opportunity for disputes to be called is almost endless," the analysis states.

"Managers will not be able to make management decisions. They will be in constant contact with union officials checking that everything they do does not trigger a dispute.

"The collapse in productivity and increase in costs associated with the constriction of management capacity will be significant."

The analysis is based on a 74-page document circulated by the CEPU to contractors. The document warns that if the CEPU's proposed agreement was to take effect, managers would not be able to act without the approval of "entirely unaccountable" union officials.

On workplace safety, the analysis describes as "disturbing" the union's view that a prohibition on urine- and blood-tests for alcohol and drug levels should be included in the industrial agreement.

Last week, CEPU NBN national project co-ordinator Allen Hicks said the provisions in the document were "still to be finalised as discussions with contractors are still ongoing and depending on the outcome of those discussions these provisions may change".

SOURCE: Annabel Hepworth and Tracy Lee, THE AUSTRALIAN

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/industry-sectors/workers-may-hold-nbn-to-ransom-according-to-industrial-agreement/story-e6frg9hx-1226069735242