悬挂在金属门上的建筑帽

强调

In November 2016, ENGIE, the French energy company, announced that in just five months’ time, it would close the coal-fired Hazelwood Power Station in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley. Union campaigning led the state government of Victoria to quickly coordinate a multi-sectoral social dialogue, which resulted in a scheme of early retirement packages for older workers at neighboring power plants so that younger Hazelwood employees could be redeployed to those jobs. As of November 2019, 74% of former Hazelwood employees were re-employed or retired.

语境

作为最古老，最密集的 power plant in Australia, the Hazelwood Power Station in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley was at the center of political discussions on national climate change mitigation efforts. In November 2016, the Hazelwood Power Station’s majority owner, the French firm ENGIE,宣布该工厂将于2017年3月关闭，仅发出五个月的通知。该决定是根据Engie的绿色重组策略和运营成本上升;恩迪也面对法院的职业健康，安全和污染指控related to a major coal mine fire in 2014 and was ultimately fined over A$1.9 million (123万美元).

1.6 GW发电厂一直在运行自1960年代以来，从相邻矿山提取的褐煤发电。当时它使用了750people (450 employees and 300 contractors), about 250 of whom would stay on (for up to12年）管理工厂退役和矿山康复，使净工作损失到约500个。工人的平均水平age是52岁，平均任期为25年。Hazelwood还提供了维多利亚电力的20％。

宣布关闭时，建筑，林业，采矿和能源联盟（CFMEU）呼吁联邦政府to develop and fund a plan for a just transition in the energy sector, including support for training, redeployment and early retirement for workers. A key goal was to avoid repeating theeconomic recession以及在1990年代电力部门私有化之后的高失业率。

Policies, Actions and Results 

与恩吉公开的同一天宣布关闭，联邦和州政府都宣布了支持套餐。联邦政府承诺4,300万美元（3,300万美元），其中包括：

  • 300万美元（230万美元）进行劳动调整，包括直接工作支持，例如再培训计划和寻求工作的援助。
  • 一笔2000万美元（1,534万美元）地区al Jobs and Investment Package旨在创造本地就业机会，使区域经济多样化并通过基于社区投入选择的项目来建立高技能劳动力。
  • 一笔2000万美元（1,534万美元）来​​支持当地基础设施。

维多利亚州政府的包裹更加重要，总计2.66亿美元（2.044亿美元），最大的区域援助计划in Victoria’s history. This consisted of:

  • 2200万美元（1,690万美元）立即为受影响的工人提供援助，包括通过咨询和培训计划，建立工人过渡中心，the creation of theLatrobe Valley Authority（LVA）（一个新的机构来指导经济过渡策略并充当社会对话平台） 返回工作计划，这为雇主提供了高达11,000美元（约合8,450美元）的雇用和培训失业人员的付款。
  • A$224 million ($172 million) for longer-term measures to promote economic growth, business investment and job creation. This included the creation of an Economic Growth Zone (A$50 million, or $38.4 million) and a Community Infrastructure & Investment Fund (A$174 million, or $133.7 million).

此外，Engie的平均冗余，并向Hazelwood工人付款$ 330,000（超过$ 253,000）每人（承包商received no redundancy payments). This was equivalent to almost中位房价加倍在最近的莫威尔（Morwell）城镇，足够高到Kindle怨恨在其他当地居民中。截至2016年11月，Engie的工人付款预算估计为A$150 million（1.15亿美元），而2017年1月的消息人士引用了3.24亿美元（2.446亿美元）。

后来，维多利亚州政府宣布为其他与基础设施有关的计划提供资金，以提高可持续性，公平和社区福祉。其中包括一项一项耗资500万美元（350万美元）的能源效率计划，以升级1,000名低收入居民的房屋和780万美元（550万美元）以改造224个公共住房物业。

Though important for the region’s longer-term economic transition, CFMEU criticized these plans for lacking near-term, concrete steps to minimize the loss of hundreds of jobs. The union campaigned for an additional, ambitiousplan。Hazelwood was one of four large power stations in the Latrobe Valley, so older workers at those other plants could be offered early retirement, and younger workers from Hazelwood could be redeployed to fill their positions.

作为回应，维多利亚州政府任命了一个特别的谈判代表，initiated a social dialogueamong the power station companies, the union and the government. This was the first-ever attempt to coordinate among multiple private companies to manage redeployment and reduce job losses. Ultimately, in March 2017, the other three operators agreed to the plan: theLatrobe Valley Worker Transfer Partnership Scheme。维多利亚时代的政府提出了一笔2000万美元（1,470万美元）对该计划的财政支持。

Early results are encouraging. As of 2019, the Latrobe Valley Authority has estimated that up to 74% of former Hazelwood workers are employed or are not looking for work (including due to retirement).Ninety workers通过工人转移计划找到了正在进行的就业。工厂关闭两年后，该地区的失业率was 5.7%, compared with 8% when the plant closed.

Strengths

  • 有效的制度协调和社会对话：这导致了五个月内制定的创新计划，以解决所有利益相关者的利益。
  • 政府的意愿，尤其是维多利亚州政府，为受影响的工人和社区提供支持：This included both making financial contributions and playing a coordinating role.
  • 私营部门合作伙伴关系：除Engie外，其他发电厂运营商还愿意进行社交对话，并自愿参加支持该地区更广泛的劳动力的计划。

挑战和差距

  • 缺乏主动计划：尽管利益相关者能够在几个月内就公正的过渡计划达成共识，但未来的过渡将从较长的咨询和计划期间受益。
  • 长期过渡以维持可持续经济：The Worker Transfer Scheme depended on redeploying workers to another coal-fired power plant, but as the region’s other plants close over the next二十年，将劳动力重新定位到具有不同技能要求的其他行业时可能会出现更大的挑战。
  • 高昂的工人过渡工作成本：The public support packages from the federal and state governments included A$25 million ($18.8 million) for immediate assistance and labor adjustments, precipitated by the net short-term loss of 500 jobs. This was in addition to ENGIE’s worker compensation of A$150 million to A$324 million ($115 million to $244.6 million), which enabled many former Hazelwood workers to retire early. Funding an inclusive, nation-wide just transition will require ensuring that public spending on related programs is fiscally sustainable and equitably distributed.

Further Reading