ETU WA Branch

Directions Website

ETU WA Branch ETU The Electrical Trades Union WA Branch is a division of the Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union.

The branch proudly defends and advances the right and conditions of it's members and the trade.

Your rights at work didn’t appear by chance. They were fought for—by workers like you. Step up, share the responsibility...
19/10/2026

Your rights at work didn’t appear by chance. They were fought for—by workers like you. Step up, share the responsibility, and join your union. Together, we’re stronger.

🚨 𝐏𝐒𝐀 – 𝐁𝐄𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐈𝐌𝐎𝐒 𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐂𝐇! 🪱𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆: A bloodsucking parasite has been spotted circling the Alkimos Desalinatio...
17/10/2026

🚨 𝐏𝐒𝐀 – 𝐁𝐄𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐈𝐌𝐎𝐒 𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐂𝐇! 🪱

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆: A bloodsucking parasite has been spotted circling the Alkimos Desalination Project. Unlike your ordinary leech, this particular species wears a corporate suit, carries a briefcase and has an insatiable appetite for workers’ wages and conditions.

Meet the Alkimos Leech – SGC Australia. The Alkimos Leech belongs to the labour hire family of parasites. It doesn't produce anything, build anything or contribute anything meaningful to the project. Instead, it survives by attaching itself to productive workers and extracting wealth from their labour. The worker does the hard yards, the parasite takes its cut. It's a remarkably efficient business model — provided you're the leech!

SGC's job advertisements for the Alkimos Desalination Project refer to "EBA Rates", yet advertise flat rates without overtime, site, electrical, trade, and travel, or Severance, Income Protection, or RDO's and on the list goes. That's a funny interpretation of union conditions. Apparently, the leech wants to advertise the benefits of union bargaining without actually providing them.

Let's be absolutely clear: SGC does not have a union Enterprise Agreement covering this project. The only companies currently holding project agreements with the unions are:

WAY Electrical – East Package

SIMPEC/Acciona – West Package

These agreements provide negotiated wages, conditions and protections that workers have fought hard to secure. They weren't handed out through corporate generosity, and they certainly weren't negotiated so some middleman could turn up with a briefcase and start feeding off them.

There is absolutely no need for labour hire parasites on this project when WAY, SIMPEC and Acciona are recruiting workers directly.

Workers considering employment through SGC or another employer without a union project agreement should understand exactly what they're signing up for. A flat hourly rate might look attractive until you discover what's missing from the package or have to work overtime. Don't confuse an advertised "union rate" with the full value and protections of a union EBA.

Our advice is simple: Don't let a corporate leech attach itself to your pay packet. Apply directly with the employers who have negotiated project agreements, and if you're unsure about an offer, contact your ETU organiser before signing anything.

Remember, leeches don't create wealth. They survive by sucking it out of those who do.

ECI Team 💪

𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐗𝐎 𝐁𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐔𝐆𝐒 — 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍 𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔! 🪳🦶🇦🇺Only in an Australian mining camp run by Sodexo can you ...
15/10/2026

𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐗𝐎 𝐁𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐔𝐆𝐒 — 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍 𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔! 🪳🦶🇦🇺

Only in an Australian mining camp run by Sodexo can you go to bed with two feet and wake up with one!

Apparently, the bed bugs at the Rio Tinto Brockman Syncline (West Pilbara Village) camp managed by Sodexo have been getting a bit too comfortable. Rumour has it they're so bloody big they've started eating workers' feet. One poor bloke allegedly went to bed a size 12 and woke up a size 6! 😂

Everything is bigger in Australia, mining profits…, and just about everything wants to kill you. We've got crocodiles, sharks, snakes, spiders, drop bears and now Sodexo's latest contribution to Australian wildlife — bed bugs big enough to drag a FIFO worker out of bed!

But jokes aside, this is absolutely unacceptable. Workers spend long periods away from their families, working hard to make Rio Tinto billions of dollars. The absolute minimum they deserve is clean, hygienic accommodation where they can get a decent night's sleep without being eaten alive by parasites.

With reports of bed bugs in Sodexo-managed accommodation, Rio Tinto needs to stop making excuses and start holding its contractors accountable. Rio Tinto should terminate Sodexo's contract and engage a competent service provider that can deliver the basic standards of accommodation workers deserve.

Workers deserve better than this. They're there to earn a living, not become part of the food chain!

North West Team.

𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐎𝐍 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔 𝐖𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐒!Downer is stuck in the dark ages, expecting workers to accept yesterday’s wages ...
14/10/2026

𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐎𝐍 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔 𝐖𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐒!

Downer is stuck in the dark ages, expecting workers to accept yesterday’s wages while living with today’s cost of living! It’s about time Downer management gave themselves an uppercut, woke up to reality and started paying their employees current market rates of pay and conditions.

Members are fighting for a better deal, one that reflects the true value of the work they perform.

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞!

ETU Organiser Rob de Graaf / PPTEU State Secretary Troy Smart

🇫🇷 𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐗𝐎 — 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐇 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀! 🇫🇷Forget Michelin stars, Sodexo is chasing salmonella strains!The French multinationa...
13/10/2026

🇫🇷 𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐗𝐎 — 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐇 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀! 🇫🇷

Forget Michelin stars, Sodexo is chasing salmonella strains!

The French multinational has brought a little taste of Paris to Rio Tinto's Pilbara camps. Unfortunately, instead of fine French cuisine, workers have been treated to a salmonella outbreak, with undercooked chicken on the menu.

Bon appétit, you filthy peasants! Apparently, the secret ingredient is corporate cost-cutting, with a generous helping of worker neglect.

While the corporate fat cats feast on profits, sick workers are reportedly left begging for food, water and basic care.

Sodexo — turning haute cuisine into a gastrointestinal crime scene, one camp at a time!

🇫🇷 Liberté, Égalité, Diarrhée! 🇫🇷

North West Team

𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀 𝐈𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐖Maintenance workers at ACCIONA’s Kwinana Energy Recovery Facility have been getting screwed by a...
12/10/2026

𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀 𝐈𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐖
Maintenance workers at ACCIONA’s Kwinana Energy Recovery Facility have been getting screwed by a multinational corporation that seems to think Australian laws don’t apply to it.

After years of pathetic 2% wage increases and little else, maintenance workers decided enough was enough. They wanted to move away from individual contracts and bargain collectively for an enterprise agreement. We wrote to ACCIONA requesting that it initiate bargaining. ACCIONA ignored the request.

We then applied to the Fair Work Commission for a Majority Support Determination. The FWC determined that an overwhelming 100% of maintenance workers supported bargaining and issued an order requiring ACCIONA to commence bargaining. ACCIONA had 14 days to issue the Notice of Employee Representational Rights. To date, it has failed to do so.

We have since written to ACCIONA demanding that it issue the NERR in accordance with the FWC’s order. If ACCIONA continues to ignore its legal obligations, we will pursue every available avenue to enforce compliance.

It never ceases to amaze me how some foreign-owned multinationals seem to think they are above Australian laws and regulations. State and federal governments should not be allowing companies like ACCIONA to bid for government contracts, particularly when they have a track record of undercutting workers’ wages, conditions and safety.

Australian workers deserve better, and multinational corporations operating in this country must be held to the same laws as everyone else.

Simon Brezovnik
Organiser – Kwinana & South West

𝐑𝐈𝐎 𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 & 𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐗𝐎 — 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐔𝐏 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐀 𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐓!Workers fly thousands of kilometres away fr...
11/10/2026

𝐑𝐈𝐎 𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 & 𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐗𝐎 — 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐔𝐏 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐀 𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐓!

Workers fly thousands of kilometres away from their families to make Rio Tinto billions, only to end up violently ill in camps managed by Sodexo. A salmonella outbreak has swept through Rio Tinto's Pilbara accommodation villages, leaving scores of workers sick. What an absolute f!!king disgrace!

Undercooked chicken is a well-known cause of salmonella, and we've been told it was responsible for this outbreak. Yet the companies have still not publicly established the source. How the hell does a multinational catering company end up with workers contracting salmonella on this scale?

And the treatment of sick workers is just as disgraceful. We've received reports of workers being isolated without adequate food, drinking water, medical supplies or clean bedding. Worker’s waiting hours for a pathetic meal left baking in the Pilbara sun. Other workers have been forced to look after their sick workmates because basic welfare arrangements have allegedly failed.

Rio Tinto squeezes the contract, Sodexo squeezes the costs, and workers are left paying the price. Both companies love talking about safety, wellbeing and looking after their people. Perhaps they could start by making sure workers can eat a meal without getting sick and receive basic care when they do.

This isn't some third-world prison camp. This is a multibillion-dollar mining operation in Western Australia in 2026 – The Brockman Project.

Rio Tinto and Sodexo owe every affected worker an explanation, proper care and accountability. Workers deserve better than corporate spin, cost-cutting and a fu***ng salmonella outbreak!

North West Team

𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐋𝐎𝐏, 𝐒𝐇𝐔𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐇 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐅𝐔𝐋! 𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐗𝐎'𝐒 𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐀 𝐎𝐅 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐅𝐀𝐑𝐄!Rio Tinto squeezes the contra...
08/10/2026

𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐋𝐎𝐏, 𝐒𝐇𝐔𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐇 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐅𝐔𝐋! 𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐗𝐎'𝐒 𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐀 𝐎𝐅 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐅𝐀𝐑𝐄!

Rio Tinto squeezes the contracts, Sodexo squeezes the workers, and cheap backpacker labour helps keep the profits rolling in. Meanwhile, the workers' living in these camps are apparently expected to accept conditions that wouldn't be tolerated in a dog kennel.

We've received disturbing reports from workers about how sick employees with salmonella are being treated in isolation. Workers' are left waiting many hours for food. The food had been dumped outside the wrong rooms and left baking in the sun. Sodexo then thought it was appropriate to give that food to sick workers.

Workers' report being given just one litre of water a day, no medical supplies, no clean sheets and no proper room cleaning. Biohazard laundry bags are reportedly being left in walkways, while sick workers' are forced to rely on their workmates for food and water. Apparently, looking after sick employees is now someone else's problem.

Rio Tinto and Sodexo need to explain how cutting costs has become more important than basic human dignity. This isn't worker welfare. It's an absolute disgrace.

Let’s be clear, people get salmonella from contaminated food or water, particularly undercooked meat, chicken or eggs, or food prepared by someone who hasn't washed their hands properly after using the toilet.

Workers aren't prisoners. They're not livestock. And they shouldn't have to beg for food, water and basic medical care while corporate giants count their profits.

North West Team

The sun is out longer, so we’ve decided it’s time to clock off, grab a b**r and talk shop.Come down to Leadlight Bar at ...
07/10/2026

The sun is out longer, so we’ve decided it’s time to clock off, grab a b**r and talk shop.

Come down to Leadlight Bar at 4:30 pm on the 23rd of October for the launch of this year's Christmas drive. As well as talking about what’s happening in the industry.

There’ll be b**rs. There’ll be banter. It may even be a little bit fun

Earlier this week I caught up with our Genus members at Eneabba who are working on the Clean Energy Link – North project...
06/10/2026

Earlier this week I caught up with our Genus members at Eneabba who are working on the Clean Energy Link – North project, a major transmission upgrade designed to strengthen the network and enable more clean energy to flow between the Mid-West and Perth.

Our members are out there doing their job and working hard to deliver this important project. Unfortunately, they raised a significant number of concerns about the way they are currently being treated and the conditions they are expected to work under.

The issues raised cover a broad range of matters, including pay and travel arrangements, accommodation and camp conditions, amenities and facilities, supervision, fatigue management, site conditions and the timely correction of payroll errors.

Some of what was raised with us simply isn't good enough. Workers delivering a major infrastructure project should be able to expect decent conditions, appropriate facilities, accurate and timely pay, proper supervision and arrangements that don't unnecessarily put their health and safety at risk.

We will be formally raising these matters with Genus and giving the company the opportunity to address the concerns raised by its workforce.

Our members have done the right thing by standing together, speaking up and bringing these issues to their Union. Now it is up to Genus to do the right thing by them.

We expect action, not excuses.

This is Genus's opportunity to get its house in order and resolve these matters. If it chooses not to, the Union will take whatever lawful and necessary steps are available to ensure our members' concerns are taken seriously.

Our members deserve better — and together, we'll make sure their voices are heard.

Glenn McLaren
Lead Organiser – ECI

Address

3 Focal Way
Balcatta, WA
6053

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 8am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 8am - 4:30pm
Thursday 8am - 4:30pm
Friday 8am - 4:30pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when ETU WA Branch posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category