Union fight looms for West Gate Tunnel

VICTORIA’S powerful construction unions are going to war on a key Andrews Government roads project, fighting a deal that would see many of the workers earn more than $180,000 a year.

Days into its new term, Labor faces an industrial relations headache after its building-union backers failed to reach a deal with the consortium building the $6.7 billion West Gate Tunnel.

After more than six months of negotiation the contractors have used a legal loophole to force through the agreement, submitting it to the Fair Work Commission for arbitration without union sign-off.

The legal stoush will be played out next year, with all five building unions vowing to fight the deal.

One union said the consortium was “dudding workers” because it and the state government had under-budgeted the project.

The consortium’s deal would see most tunnel workers earn almost $200,000 a year with over time, penalties and a site allowance of $7.50 an hour — when they work an industry standard 56-hour week.

But the Australian Workers’ Union has told its members the deal would make them more than $800 a week worse off and wants a site allowance of $9.10 and a bump of nearly $3 an hour in most workers standard rate.

The Chinese-owned John Holland and the Spanish-controlled CPB Contractors have used a little-known clause in the Fair Work Act, allowing them to lodge a draft agreement for arbitration if they have negotiated with unions for six months. It is one of the first times the clause has been used and could set a legal precedent.

AWU state secretary Ben Davis said it was using the loophole to pay its workforce as little as possible.