The management of PNG Power Limited prefers communication between its unions complies with agreed protocol
And that is to agree to a date and time for round table meetings to negotiate outstanding issues.
PPL Executive Director, John Mangos said this in response to media outbursts by the General Secretary of the PNG Energy Workers Union, Santee Margies this week claiming ‘mistreatment’ by its management.
Mangos told LOOP PNG today the union did not respond to at least two formal invitations to meet and negotiate.
He also said the PPL management and the Unions are attempting to negotiate the Enterprise Bargaining Agreement which expires August 3, 2015.
This agreement covers the terms of employment for the permanent employees in PNG Power and is for a period of up to five years.
“Union representatives have been invited formally to two meetings and another invite is going out for a further follow up on Monday,” Mangos said.
“There has been no response from the Union representatives to the two meetings,” Mangos added.
Mangos says there are a number of key points that need to be negotiated.
First, salary scale as applicable per grade.
Previous claims have been for a 17.7% pay rise for all grades.
Mangos said this was rejected outright on several occasions, including in a public meeting in April this year.
“The management has sympathy for the lower grades in terms of increases due to changes in affordability over the period, but there will simply not be a one size fits all approach, particularly one which is not linked to any performance improvements.”
These improvements are around the reliability of the system and around connecting more customers.
“This is the key point that needs to be discussed,” he said.
Mangos said it is understandable that the Unions are interested in staff welfare and the management is also taking this seriously and has recently taken steps to review the fleet, restrict cash handling for safety reasons and start to work on office facilities and the houses in the National Office compound which are in poor condition.
He said recently the call centre has been brought back to the National Office to improve work flow and the office is being re-worked to allow for more positions for the agents as it moves to a national call centre.
“This has resulted in people moving desks or locations but that is it so far and the changes are opening up additional opportunities for staff.”
PPL’s focus is moving towards skills in the field and the National Office will be a support centre for the field and be the first line of call for customers across the country.
“We expect to start training 100 additional people to work in the field very shortly,” Mangos added.