By KATRINA BRANDON
NO warning, no notice, another Latrobe Valley industry has let go of staff at the last minute.
On Wednesday, August 20, an employer within Loy Yang A Power Station, Programmed, informed its workforce of possible redundancies due to the client, AGL, being under cost-reduction pressure and the reduction in maintenance requirements with the impending power station closure in 2035.
One worker, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was on his lunch break when told of the news.
“Announced today (Wednesday, August 20), the guys that work down in the mine on the maintenance contract were going to be sacked,” he told the Express.
“They have copped a fair bit and have had a few issues, where they have unfairly sacked a few guys, only to put them back on again. They did it to the health and safety rep, and he got put back on in the end.”
The worker said this motion has stirred up concern among other workers, especially with no warning coming from up above, and that up to 30 people were to be made redundant.
Australian Manufacturing Workers Union told the Express that the “Unions and members are working through a consultative process with Programmed to mitigate the effects of redundancy, with the goal of minimising job losses, and the final number of redundancies is unknown at least until the consultative process is complete, which won’t be too long”.
