Michael O’Connor CFMEU
The CFMEU believes more can be done for timber workers by allowing the industry into the burnt coupes to salvage some of the wood there, much of which may still be usable by the region’s sawmills and woodchip processors. Source: Timberbiz
The union, which is campaigning hard against the decision by Mr Andrews’ government to close the native logging industry, joined employer and industry groups on Thursday to launch an advertising blitz highlighting the work done by timber workers in the bushfires emergency.
It came as news was confirmed that 10 timber contractors had been issued with force majeure notices by state-owned VicForests, voiding current contracts to harvest timber in East Gippsland.
The contractors employ 90 people. Among those workers are some loggers who downed tools to fight the bushfires as volunteers or as front-line workers, using their heavy machinery to cuts fire breaks and tracks for the CFA.
Forty percent of the area earmarked for native timber logging in East Gippsland has been burnt by this summer’s bushfires, with officials still assessing the extent of the damage.
Some species survive fire and can still grow, so the ferocity of the fire will also determine if the timber is salvageable.
VicForests said it had advised 10 contractors the force majeure notices were issued because fires had affected logging in their harvest areas in the short term.
“We feel for the predicament of contractors and are helping them in every way possible,” a VicForests spokesman said.
“We have assured contractors that we will strive to maximise opportunities for work, in the short term this work will include building firebreaks and emergency road clearance.”
“Over the mid-term, it will include additional haulage through VicForests selling timber out of storage or negotiating opportunities more broadly across the industry.”
CFMEU national secretary Michael O’Connor said the way the notices were issued sent shivers through the entire industry, which was already reeling from the Premier’s decision to close the sector.
“If you are a timber worker and you hear this, it just drives people into fits of despair,” Mr O’Connor said.
“We’re proud to have so many timber workers as members, and we’re thankful to the entire industry for their work during the bushfire crisis,” he said.
“This vital industry doesn’t just provide the economic lifeblood of many regional towns and communities; it also keeps the people that live in them safe during times of extreme risk.”
He said news like this was adding to the mental stress of people in the industry and accused the Andrews Government of lacking empathy.
And with the 2030 target looking uncertain, Mr O’Connor called on the Government to bring employers, experts, unions and forestry workers together to work out how to distribute the remaining timber sustainably.
Stacey Gardner from the Australian Forest Contractors Association said it showed the hard work of timber workers during the fires.
“They are the first to put their hands up to risk their lives to assist with cleaning up safely. We greatly appreciate their skills and use of equipment and it is vital that we realise the huge contribution that they make,” she said.
Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said the force majeure was a massive concern and called on the Government to give the contractors work in bushfire clean-up.
“Regional Victoria needs help, you don’t help regional Victoria by putting people out of work, but the danger is that is exactly what VicForests is doing,” Mr O’Brien said.
Agriculture Minister Jaclyn Symes said the Government was talking to VicForests about work.
“There’s lots and lots of work for contractors at the moment as a result of the fires, and the forest workers are doing an amazing job out there clearing roads, felling dangerous trees and the like,” she said.
