Union pay deal narrowly averts power-plant shutdown A 24-hour shutdown of Loy Yang B power station has been averted after the union and the station's owners resolved a pay dispute just hours before the shutdown was due to start. The resolution ends months of industrial action at two Victorian power stations. The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union had planned to shutdown Loy Yang B from midnight on Thursday until midnight on Friday to put pressure on the station's owners, GDF SUEZ. The union has been negotiating a new pay deal. "GDF SUEZ Australian Energy has welcomed resolution of an enterprise agreement dispute after unions accepted revised wording regarding consultation on possible future change," a company spokesman said on Friday morning. Head of operations and generation at the power station, Steve Rieniets said: "It was very unfortunate that the unions had felt the need to impose work bans and threaten a 24-hour stoppage. However, our company was not prepared to accept union demands that would have effectively reduced our management decision-making prerogative. Fortunately, common sense prevailed and we have now agreed on new wording on consultation that is acceptable to both parties. The CFMEU had been cutting output at both Loy Yang B station and the Yallourn power station, which is owned by EnergyAustralia, to put pressure on the companies during negotiations. Workers used a manual override to cut output at Loy Yang B by 20 per cent for 12 hours a day, while output at was Yallourn station cut by about 35 per cent for two hours a day. A spokeswoman for the Australian Energy Market Operator said the industrial action had not put Victoria at risk of brown-outs. The state would still have enough electricity if both stations turned off completely, but could not "tolerate any other failures." The "go-slow" started in February and stopped on March 13 after EnergyAustralia took legal action in the Victorian Supreme Court. Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth found the go-slow was illegal because it was not the same industrial action as a "ban" on work, which had been approved by the Fair Work Commission.