Timber workers fear job losses as union steps up attack on native forests plan
In an attack on the Andrews Government’s $120 million plan to shift native timber workers to plantations, CFMEU secretary Michael O’Connor has warned that jobs are under threat.
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The powerful forestry union the CFMEU has warned Labor MPs that their plan to shift native timber workers to plantations is not viable and exposes them to job cuts.
Stepping up his attack on the Andrews Government’s $120 million plan, federal union secretary Michael O’Connor said it “does not provide workers and communities with a fighting chance to transition or leave the industry with dignity”.
In a letter to state Labor caucus, the ALP-aligned union leader accused the government of creating an “un-Labor” policy that threatened jobs.
“Victorian timber workers, their families and communities are doing it tough as they prepare for Christmas this year,” he says in the letter.
He said one of the problems with the package announced by the government, which is supposed to help mills move to plantation supply, was that it was vulnerable to natural disaster.
“The rigidness of the plan leaves the workers’ jobs it is meant to secure vulnerable to factors
outside of the Government’s control,” he said.
“For example, if there is a major bushfire which damages the resource or a drought before 2030 which stifles plantation growth rates it will leave the transition plan in tatters.”
The union wrote to the premier last month calling for more information to be provided, but Mr O’Connor says he is yet to get a proper briefing.
It is now considering stepping up a campaign against the plan, fearing a big impact on jobs at Australian Paper at Maryvale — the “largest private sector employer in Gippsland”.
When he announced the sweeping new policy, Premier Daniel Andrews said every worker affected by the situation would be supported.
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“There will be pain and there will be challenges in this, but we will stand with every single community to provide the certainty and the support to make it through this tough transition,” Mr Andrews said last month.
Environment groups have applauded the move, but say ending native logging should happen before the 2030 date set by the government.
But timber mills say it will be a job killer, and that sustainable harvesting should have a future, while pointing to the work contractors do fighting forest fires as another industry asset.
The state opposition has promised to maintain the native timber industry if it wins the 2022 state election.