By Michael Bull
MELBOURNE — The man at the head of Yallourn Energy, Mike Johnson, stated in the Age on February 8 that the PowerGen company had paid too much for the plant in 1996 and has been losing money ever since. This was the main reason the company went for the workers at the Yallourn power station.
He then presented his philosophy on changing times. "I think it's a tragedy when you look through history where industries or communities have failed to move with the times and have said 'we don't want to change'. We saw it in Britain in the ship building industry in Newcastle, in the mining industry, in the steel industry, in the rail industry. Communities that fought off change eventually saw business leave them and go elsewhere."
In the early 1980s, the La Trobe Valley was a thriving centre with relatively low unemployment. Now unemployment stands at 18% and in nearby Moe it has skyrocketed to more than 25%.
What created this situation? If you believe Johnson's statement, it must stem from the community fighting against change and causing business to leave. Or is it more to do with the pursuit of greater and greater profits by big business and their governments?
Most of the people living in the Valley, unless unemployed, depend, directly or indirectly, to one of the big four power stations for their livelihood.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, ALP state and federal governments brought in competition policy and restructured the power industry, resulting in job loses and cuts in real wages. Most unions, under the influence of the ALP, accepted these changes and convinced the work force to do likewise.
Enter the Coalition, which proceeded to privatise the entire industry. Once again, there was little or no fight against the move.
The result was that the work force in the power industry declined from 11,000 to 3000, unemployment rose out of control, housing prices crashed, suicide escalated, families fell apart as adults searched for work in other towns or states and, as in much of country Victoria, schools and hospitals were closed. It is often said that the only growth industry in the Valley is poker machines.
The Valley is quite different from the parts of Britain Johnson refers to. The region supplies an essential service to the state, not something that can be shipped offshore or allowed to simply run down.
But Johnson also suggests that the company may not invest the $500 million it claims is needed to move into the Maryvale coal field unless the workers surrender their industrial rights — a warning that Yallourn Energy may allow operations to run down.
The company's random blackouts on February 3, while it was still suppling electricity to NSW, was another form of "blackmail" and an indication of what it's capable of.
After years of privatisation, we are now left with companies that are responsible for essential services but have no allegiance to the interests of ordinary people. Instead, their highest priority is their shareholders, who don't care about the people who live in this state.
The tragedy is just the opposite of what Johnson says it is. It is not people's fear of change, it's privatisation. Just ask any long-term resident of the La Trobe Valley.