FROM THE FROM THE SECRETARY SECRETARY

Welcome to the first edition of Electrical Worker for the year and 2023 looks like it will bring with it some huge challenges and some great opportunities for our members and Queenslanders in general

After landing the Queensland Jobs and Energy Plan at the end of last year, the real challenge of delivering it begins for government but also for the ETU as the driving force behind the plan The amount of infrastructure to be built to deliver the plan will see us in need of thousands of power/electrical workers to construct 1000s of kilometres of transmission lines, substations, wind farms, solar farms as well as pumped hydro and battery storage

The shortage of skilled labour in Australia, let alone Queensland, will bring a new set of challenges We are going to need to be campaigning to protect our skill sets within our trade to make sure our apprenticeship is not watered down to deliver an electrical/power tradesperson in less than four years We will have to make sure migrant workers have mandatory skills testing to meet Australia’s standards and nothing less, push to maximise the number of apprentices being put on by contractors who will be delivering these projects, and make sure that licensed work is maintained, for instance transmission lines being constructed by licenced lineys rather than riggers and dogmen

All these challenges, and more, will be faced in the next couple of years, one saving grace is at least we don’t have a Morrison/Dutton government in place; however, we must make sure that the Albanese government doesn’t bow to big business and weaken in the face of free trade agreements

Of course, there is a whole lot of opportunities also A skills shortage puts us in a better position to bargain for better wages and conditions, better safety standards, and more apprentices and training – all of the things that went by the wayside with 10 years of consecutive LNP governments I for one look forward to the challenges over the next 10 years and delivering some great outcomes for our members and their families

Enjoy the read as always, there are some great articles from your organisers on wins, achievements and challenges Scott Reichman has the full wash up of some great outcomes in the state government EBA campaigns on page 10

Read about our outstanding up and coming trade unionists with articles about apprentices Noah Chapman, Mitch Wesche, Mary Thatcher, and our Apprentice of the Year Iyesha Paull These are just a few of our outstanding apprentice members, and as the state secretary, I am proud to have such a nursery of strong trade unionist, and I believe the future of our union is in good hands Read the full story pages 12-16

And Strawbs has got an update for our Territory members on all of government negotiations, from a wage freeze to 3% and beyond, as well as the hard fought and won battle by our members working for Rio at Gove Check it out on page 34

To top of everything else that’s going on, we also have our biennial conference in May this year with around 140 delegates coming together to determine the direction of your union for the next two years We are a democratic union that is guided by its rank and file members, so please seek out your delegate in your workplace and pass on any agenda items or initiatives that you wish to put forward to Biennial Conference to be debated

See you on the job