Blackout witch hunt

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
 
Sir – Territory Generation is conducting a witch hunt of Electrical Trades Union (ETU) members to shut them up over power failures and we are seeking immediate NT Government intervention.
 
Government owned TGen is intimidating and threatening three of TGen’s most experienced operators over the utility’s appalling handling of the Alice Springs blackouts. TGen management should have been sacked on the spot for their incompetence.
 
These three guys helped with the restoration of power on the day of the system black event of October 13. They are now looking down the barrel of being stood down for accessing information in relation to that event via TGen’s internal computer system.
 
Two of the three operators in question went in to help on their day off, off their own bat because due to TGen incompetence there is no operations call out roster.
 
This is how people are treated when they go above and beyond, these two, and others, may think twice before acting the same way, potentially increasing outage times further.
 
This latest hostile response from TGen is evidence that the government is running a protection racket for incompetent TGen executives at the expense of hardworking TGen employees and the wider Alice Springs community.
 
The buck stops with the Government.
 
TGen and the NT Government have been well aware of the ETU’s concerns for more than a year about the potential impact the closure of Ron Goodin (pictured) would have on the reliability of power in Alice Springs.
 
The concerns about Alice’s power has not been a secret to members on the frontline, the Government or TGen but instead of dealing with the issues in consultation with the union and the frontline workers, we’ve had coverup and stonewalling and now outright silencing dissent and intimidation to stop workers speaking out.
 
Dave “Strawbs” Hayes 
Electrical Trades Union
 
The Alice Springs News is offering the right of reply to TGen.
 
 
UPDATE 4am November 13:
 
TGen replied: Territory Generation is unable to comment on matters that are under investigation.
 
We continue to work with the independent consultant chosen by the Electrical Trades Union to facilitate the transition from the Ron Goodin Power Station to the Owen Springs Power Station.