Qld: Railway workers rallying in Ipswich

AAP General News (Australia)
08-04-2000
Qld: Railway workers rallying in Ipswich

By Chris Herde

BRISBANE, Aug 4 AAP - Workers at the Redbank Railway Workshop west of Brisbane downed
tools today over what they say are danger signs for hundreds of railway production jobs.

More than 150 workers rallied outside the Ipswich electorate offices of Treasurer David
Hamill and Member for Bundamba Jo-Ann Miller.

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union Queensland organiser Geoff Adams said about
260 jobs were in immediate danger because of doubt over the future capacity of the workshops
to build railway locomotives and rolling stock.

"We got a very positive response from Jo-Ann Miller and she indicated there were a
number of things that she would undertake to do," Mr Adams said.

"Unfortunately David Hamill made himself unavailable which we thought was rather disgraceful
from a senior government minister."

A spokesman for Mr Hamill said the treasurer met AMWU representatives a fortnight ago
but today had prior commitments.

Mr Adams said the AMWU was concerned that Queensland Rail (QR) would run down the workshops,
which currently employ about 1,000 people, in favour of buying locomotives and rolling
stock from overseas companies.

"We're going to have to try to work out how we can force QR and the government to making
something happen," Mr Adams said.

"We're not going to sit back and cop this stuff."

AMWU Queensland assistant secretary Rene Veltmeyer said it was possible the 600 to
700 remaining full-time workers at the workshop could also find themselves under pressure
to take redundancies.

"This would be a devastating outcome for the Ipswich region and Queensland as a whole,"

Mr Veltmeyer said.

"Not only would skilled individuals lose their jobs, but Queensland risks losing the
capacity to manufacture railway infrastructure if these workshops are scaled down.

"This is a most serious development and puts at risk more than a century's effort by
previous generations of Queenslanders to build up this type of industrial capacity."

AAP ch/jhm/was/br

KEYWORD: RAILWAYS NIGHTLEAD

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