Twenty permanent positions were made redundant at Loy Yang Power Station on Friday as part of an expected decision by maintenance contractor Transfield Worley Power Services.
But power industry unions have flagged their intention to challenge the move in the Fair Work Commission today.
A TWPS spokesperson said two of the redundancies were voluntary and the decision followed earlier confirmation from AGL Loy Lang of a “reduced contracted scope of work at the site”.
The spokesperson said the retrenched workers included trades and non-trades and there were now 70 permanent TWPS employees on site.
Australian Manufacturing Workers Union Gippsland organiser Steve Dodd said he did not believe the company had taken enough measures to try to mitigate the redundancies.
“We don’t think it’s justified, especially seeing as it has a casual workforce on site and it’s terminating permanents,” Mr Dodd said.
“We don’t believe they’ve explored all options before pulling the trigger.
“AGL has given them a direction and they’ve just done it.”
AGL Loy Yang declined to comment.
