NSW: Unions criticise premier for not guaranteeing Walter debt

AAP General News (Australia)
02-18-2005
NSW: Unions criticise premier for not guaranteeing Walter debt

CFMEU NSW secretary Andrew Ferguson said the government had a "moral" duty to cover
the costs of sub-contractors left hundreds of millions of dollars out of pocket by the
collapse.

He said the government had not exercised due diligence when selecting Walter to carry
out work on public building projects.

Only one of the projects, the Parramatta rail upgrade, had so far guaranteed sub-contractors
would be paid.

The union was currently in negotiations with Sydney Water and NSW Health to resolve
an impasse over five projects where workers had stopped work pending a guarantee of payment
from the government.

"We're asking the question, `who in the government picked Walter to do the work?, because
the evidence is they weren't secure," Mr Ferguson said.

"We're not asking them (the government) to pay bills because of the threat of strike
action, we're asking them to pay bills to people in NSW who are owed money because there
is a moral obligation to end this crisis."

Despite the premier's comments today, Mr Ferguson said he was confident the issue of
payment would be resolved soon.

"We're making steady progress, we've resolved State Rail with everyone being paid and
we're making progress now with other departments as well."

AAP smb/nf/pb/jlw

KEYWORD: WALTER CARR 2 SYDNEY (REOPENS)

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