THERE is hope the Walcha sawmill will re-open after a blockade by the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) and the community forced mill owners Boral to reconsider the closure that cost 23 jobs.
Walcha Council met with Boral executives last Thursday to discuss the proposed lease of the sawmill to “qualified parties” for two years.
Mayor Bill Heazlett and council’s general manager Jack O’Hara will attend another meeting between the CFMEU, Boral, Forests NSW, the Department of State and regional Development, Department of Premier and Cabinet and senior staff from the offices of the Minister for Regional Development and the Minister for Primary Industries in Sydney today.
The CFMEU doesn’t believe a lease arrangement will work and wants Boral to either re-open the mill or sell it to allow another firm to take over operations.
CFMEU Forestry and Furnishing Division State secretary Craig Smith said that Boral had suffered tremendous reputational damage across NSW and Australia and it was time for them to work with stakeholders to find a solution for Walcha, rather than allow the dispute to drag on.
The CFMEU Forestry and Furnishing Division national secretary Michael O’Connor also condemned Boral’s refusal to accept logs.
Last week the blockade was altered to allow logs to be delivered to the site so as not to cause undue financial hardship to carriers, however, nothing is being allowed out of the yard.
“The community has no beef with these small, family owned harvest and haulage operations and don’t want them to suffer because of Boral’s bastardry,” Mr O’Connor said.
“Boral are now effectively saying that if the mayor and community will not facilitate the destruction of their own town by allowing logs out of Walcha for processing at Herons Creek, then Boral will not accept logs into the Walcha sawmill,” Mr O’Connor said.
“They clearly do not care about further job losses.”
Member for Northern Tablelands Richard Torbay has cautiously welcomed Boral’s attempt to lease the mill.
Mr Torbay said he hoped the move was not just a quick fix to alleviate the pressure applied to the company through the
blockade.
“The community response had my strong support and it has been effective in bringing Boral to the bargaining table,” he said. “We still need to see the detail of the new proposal but it should address the long term future of the Walcha milling operation if it is to meet community demands.
“It must be a genuine process with good long-term prospects, not just an attempt to plug the controversy to get out of
trouble.”
Mr Smith said the CFMEU would hold another round of mass meetings at Boral sites across NSW in the next week or two to further discuss Boral’s behaviour and its implication on job security.
“Our members have lost all faith in Boral and do not believe that their jobs are safe - to put it very mildly,” Mr Smith said.
“The union will not rule out industrial action at Boral sites to defend our timber communities. If Boral even hints at repeating the Walcha fiasco elsewhere they will learn the hard way that our communities will not be punching bags for this morally bankrupt multinational.”
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