Inpex shedding 1,400 jobs in Darwin, with many gone just before Christmas
By James Oaten
Updated about 4 hours agoSun 14 Dec 2014, 1:37pm
Blaydin Point
PHOTO: Inpex has sacked 1,400 workers from its Icthys LNG construction project. (Supplied: Inpex)
FROM: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014- ... e-christmas/5963254
Oil company Inpex is shedding around 1,400 jobs from its Icthys construction project near Darwin, forcing many families to brace for a tough Christmas season.
The number of job cuts was planned, with the civil works phase of the LNG project nearing completion.
But unions are upset at the abruptness of the job cuts, saying it is flooding the local market with unemployed blue collar workers at a time when there is traditionally few jobs available in construction.
Sacked worker Kylie Wright said it was a terrible time of year to have no income.
"Over the holiday season, you're kids are going to be let down, your grandkids are going to be let down," she said.
The 43-year-old mother of two said she was angry at the company for the way they handled the layoffs.
"The way they've done it I thought it was wrong. You hop on a bus, go to work, get a tap on the shoulder, back on the bus, off you go home."
More than half of the 1,400 laid off are local tradesmen, such as concreters, plumbers and steel fixers.
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union NT organiser Shaun Taylor said he was unhappy Inpex continued to hire staff until October in a bid to accelerate work before the wet season arrived.
"If you're going to build something of this calibre in the Northern Territory, the wet season is just part of doing business, and there are ways to get around it," he said.
"It's a $34 billion project. This is not building and construction of a $20 million high rise."
Mr Taylor said there was little other work around for tradesmen at this time of year.
Mrs Wright said there was very little work around and she had hundreds of newly unemployed people to compete against.
"They're very grim prospects, because you've got people from the project looking for work and other people looking as well," she said.
No-one from Inpex was available for interview, but in a statement the company said it has "worked hard to keep people on the job for as long as possible," and given redundant staff "where practical, as much notice as possible".
The sackings have left many former employees unsure how they would pay their mortgage and rent.
Quentin Kilian from the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory said governments need to plan to avoid a boom and bust cycle.
"Because of the simple fact that we're looking at around 130,000 to 160,000 people in the city, it means that statistical movements are a lot quicker," he said.
"[Governments need to] keep looking towards what is the next set of projects, what is the next thing coming in so that we keep that economic stability going." |