Workers from the Dormit timber mill in Dandenong protested outside Premier Daniel Andrews’ electorate office on Thursday.
Approximately 40 workers from the Dormit mill in Dandenong will be stood down this week after the mill ran out of wood, despite a Victorian Government guarantee of log supply to 2024. Source: Timberbiz
The timber crisis has also hit the supply of pallets used by Coles, Woolworths, IGA, Aldi and Costco, with a national pallet shortage potentially impacting the delivery of goods and supermarket supplies ahead of Christmas.
The union representing timber workers, CFMEU Manufacturing Division, is seeking urgent government action to avoid further job pain and disastrous disruptions to people’s daily lives.
CFMEU Manufacturing National Secretary Michael O’Connor said the pallet shortage could impact deliveries of food, alcohol and household supplies like toilet paper in the lead up to Christmas.
“After another year of COVID pain, Victorians are facing looming supermarket shortages yet again, while hundreds of timber workers face a bleak Christmas being stood down due to log supply shortages that could have been avoided,” he said.
“The Andrews Government has failed to protect log supply and jobs, despite repeated warnings from this union and industry representatives about the consequences of its inadequate plan for timber workers and the Victorian community.”
Last week, the union warned that injunctions placed on the harvesting of coupes by VicForests were leading to job losses by workers and forest contractors. The union called on the Victorian Government to fix the problems with an inadequate Code of Practice it introduced to avert timber supply issues, and to provide financial support for timber workers who have lost work.
The timber supply shortages are being caused by an unprecedented number of injunctions applied for and won in the Supreme Court by third party litigants. The injunctions are preventing VicForests from harvest and timber production.
The union is calling on the Andrews Government to urgently legislate to prevent claims against VicForests in the Supreme Court and other jurisdictions by third party litigants.
The union is also calling on the Andrews Government to provide financial assistance to timber workers and contractors who have been stood down or lost work as a result of its failure to guarantee log supply.
