Published: 23 Jan 2019
While the rest of Australia enjoys a long weekend, workers on construction giant John Holland’s troubled Autohaus project in Brisbane are being told to report for duty as usual.
John Holland, a subsidiary of the Chinese government controlled China Communications Construction Company, has issued an edict that on Australia Day “all trades required to achieve project milestones are required to attend”.
According to CFMEU assistant state secretary Jade Ingham: “This is code for ‘we are running a long way behind schedule and will flog our workforce senseless in a desperate bid to make up lost ground’.”
“This is a project that has been dogged with major delays and safety breaches – including the disastrous collapse of a piling rig – and it is workers, not inept management, that are being made to pay the price.”
“John Holland has billions of dollars worth of government contracts around Australia yet they have an unenviable reputation for cutting corners and squeezing their workers dry.”
“This is not the behavior of a good corporate citizen.”
