Job cuts at precast concrete facility latest lay-offs linked to troubled West Gate Tunnel
At least 60 workers who have been working around the clock at the West Gate Tunnel’s concrete facility in Benalla are the latest to be laid off from the $6.7 billion project.
VIC News
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Job cuts on the West Gate Tunnel have now hit the project’s concrete facility in Benalla, with about 60 workers expected to be sacked from the site.
In a letter obtained by the Herald Sun, LS Precast has warned staff it would have to cut its current workload by a third and that workers would be made redundant.
“Employees will be well aware of the current PFAS situation on the West Gate Tunnel project and the associated delays in the tunnelling works,” it reads.
“Regrettably, these ongoing delays, when coupled with our current storage challenges, have resulted in a requirement to significantly reduce our production of tunnel segments.
“At this stage, we anticipate moving from our present three crew structure to a single crew.”
About 300 people are believed to be working at the Benalla facility and it is expected about at least 60 jobs will be made redundant.
Crews at the site have been working around the clock to build the concrete segments that will line the walls of the tunnel.
But thousands of these segments are laying idle as workers wait for the two tunnel boring machines on the $6.7 billion project to be turned on.
It comes after scores of workers were laid off last week amid an ongoing dispute between builders on the West Gate Tunnel and Transurban.
CPB and John Holland have threatened to rip up their contract over cost pressures and delays created by difficulties housing PFAS-contaminated soil.
Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan said there was no reason for the workers to be sacked.
“While businesses across Australia are going to extraordinary lengths to keep staff on – Transurban’s builders sacking these local workers because they can’t resolve their petty dispute – it’s an outrage,” she said.
“Transurban entered into a deal with its builders, CPB and John Holland and they’ve had three years to find a spoil site – it’s their failure and they need to fix it.”
A Transurban spokeswoman said:
“There’s a huge program of works that CPB John Holland Joint Venture is contracted to deliver on the West Gate Project and there are plenty of pathways for them to carry out their obligations and keep staff employed, so it’s extremely disappointing that they’ve continued to make changes to their workforce.”
Opposition transport spokesman David Davis called on the state government to intervene.
“This project is a shambles,” he said.
“It’s time the state government resolved these issues and ensured this project proceeded properly without the job losses.
”We are already paying the first tranche of increased tolls and this is going to continue.”
WEST GATE TUNNEL LAY-OFFS BEGIN