Heidi Kraak
The scene at Glengarry Pub on a Monday evening might not have seemed particularly special for an outsider looking in but for seven retired Yallourn mine workers it was a time to celebrate years of service over a beer.
Having accepted the offer of early retirement through the state government’s worker transfer scheme in which participating employers gave employees the opportunity to retire or resign with an early retirement payment to create vacancies for ex-Hazelwood Power Station workers, the men are enjoying life at a slower pace. All seven retired in the last three months.
Lex Forbes began working with the SEC at Yallourn mine almost 42 years ago, retiring as a supervisor and reflected on the changes in the region over the years.
“We’re all very appreciative of the power industry for what it has given us over the years and our lifetime,” he said.
“But it would be nice to think there is a future for the younger generation in the Valley, in the power industry.
“We were just talking about some of our local footy clubs and how they’ve had a demise because of the selling of the SEC and not building any more power stations and the impact it has had on the towns, particularly the local little towns.”
Mr Forbes said the privatisation of the SEC and the closure of Hazelwood last year had both had serious consequences for the local economy and people.
“People aren’t spending the dollars – there is no work,” he said.
“The younger generation now, they’ve got to go somewhere else to find a job.
“I don’t think that they took into account that when you close the SEC, you shut all the business around the place. That has had a dramatic effect. All those little businesses that used to supply the SEC are no longer there, very few of them, and they are not employing anybody.”
Mr Forbes said the state government’s worker transfer scheme had “been effective”.
“There are a lot of people that were only on casual wages that are now working in a permanent position,” he said.
“It has been effective for us and the for the people that have got a job now.
“Some of the blokes from Hazelwood have now got a permanent job at Yallourn, so from that sense, yes, it has [been good].”
