Hydro Tasmania has been engaged in negotiations over the last six months for a new enterprise agreement that covers around 690 of its 1200 employees.

Over this period, it discussed more than 100 separate claims from independent and union bargaining representatives.

It took an offer to vote on July 28, with an outcome of 43% ‘yes’ and 57% ‘no’. The offer included:

• annual base salary increase of 2.4% in 2025 (aligned to March CPI)
• 2026 and 2027 base salary increases aligned to CPI, with a minimum increase of 2% and up to 3.5% each year
• additional base salary increases of 1.5% in 2026 and 2027 for eligible staff who achieve all three performance goals (more than 95% meet all three goals each year)
• increases to on-call and travel allowances
• a holistic classification review of all job families delivered within 12 months, with any salary uplifts backdated to the date of the vote.

As part of the overall offer, Hydro Tasmania also committed to:

• additional base salary increases of 1.5% in 2025 for eligible staff who achieve all three performance goals under the current enterprise agreement
• additional market based adjustments of up to 5% of base salary for around 100 engineering and trade staff
• $4,000 up front payment to eligible employees.

Executive General Manager People and Corporate Affairs, Ruth Groom, said it would continue to negotiate in good faith.

“We believe it was a strong offer that supported staff to manage cost of living pressures and offered good progression through the salary bands.

“But we respect the employees’ vote and have returned to the bargaining table. We met with independent and union representatives last week and have another meeting scheduled for Thursday.

Hydro Tasmania understands that the CEPU and Professionals Australia have applied to the Fair Work Commission to conduct a Protected Action Ballot. If the order is approved, unions will be able to conduct a ballot of their members around the type of protected industrial action they wish to take.

“We respect the right of employees to take industrial action and assure Tasmanians that energy security and safety are our top priorities.”

“We have plenty of capacity within our energy network and within our business to manage Tasmanian demand.”

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