Forestry South Australia workers have another six week wait before the State Government decides whether they still have a job. Sources: ABC Rural, ABC
State Forestry Minister Leon Bignell will not confirm whether about 100 employees will be cut in the south east, as proposed by management company Forestry SA.
The company has applied to halve its workforce, halve redundancy packages and engage private contractors to undertake work.
The industry said the government would be breaking a promise to maintain jobs in the region should it accept the proposal.
Mr Bignell said employees would know more about their futures in July.
“If there’s a proposition to cut 95 jobs then Forestry SA is obviously not just doing that just for the sake of it,” he said
“So we need to have the discussion and see where we can go. “I’m not sure what the answer is.”
In 2012 the State Government sold off 100 years of harvest rights to the state’s forestry plantations.
An American company, OneFortyOne Plantations, bought the timber. Forestry SA maintained a management contract, to tend to the plantations.
Mr Bignell said he would meet with representatives from the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union, Forestry SA and OneFortyOne in about six weeks.
“We’ve got to remember there’s 92 human beings involved in all of this as well.
“We need to do the best thing by the workers, we need to do the best thing by the region and by the state.”
The forestry union has accused the South Australian Government of breaking its promise to protect forestry jobs in the state’s south-east with up to 60 ForestrySA workers to be offered voluntary redundancy.
The offers will be open to workers in the south-east and in the Mount Lofty Ranges close to Adelaide.
Forests Minister Leon Bignell said the State Government has kept its promise of no forced redundancies.
“This isn’t a broken promise. If they want to take the package they’re welcome to put up their hand,” he said.
But Brad Coates from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union said the Government promised back in 2012 that a sale of forward harvesting rights would not lead to job losses in the local timber industry.
The Opposition said the loss of dozens of ForestrySA jobs would be another economic blow for the south-east of SA.
Expressions of interest for redundancies close on Friday-week.
