850 Workers Sent Packing As Yet Another Pay Dispute Erupts Between Contractors On The Ichthys LNG Plant

Published: 15 Mar 2017

Early this morning the CFMEU received notice that Laing O’Rourke were immediately relinquishing their tanks project contract at the $34 billion Ichthys LNG Plant over a pay dispute between Laing O’Rourke and Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

As a result, 644 direct employees of Laing O’Rourke and 200 sub-contractors were made redundant.
 
Back in January 500 workers were abruptly made redundant over a pay dispute between the managing contractor JKC and UGL to the figure of over $600million.
 
CFMEU Divisional Branch Assistant Secretary Andrew Sutherland said, “It is unprecedented that in a matter of months two major companies (UGL and Laing O’Rourke) have pulled out of the $34b project which has resulted in close to 1400 workers being made redundant.
 
“These disputes highlight that the managing contractor JKC doesn’t have any idea how to manage contractors on a project of this size.
 
“They are too busy pushing the LNP ideological agenda and as a result workers are being left high and dry.
 
“The CFMEU is calling on the managing contractor JKC to step up and resolve this issue between Kawasaki and Laing O’Rourke to ensure these 850 workers are re-employed.
 
“JKC needs to spend less time focussing on politics and more time managing their projects.”