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A security firm hired by ‘rogue managers’ at Wonthaggi desalination plant builder Thiess Degrémont uncovered evidence of union leaders illegally enforcing a closed shop at the site.
Among the highly suspect practices initiated by the rogue managers, workers were forced to tell management when they were and were not at work, using the sort of attendance-recording systems that became infamous during the Great Depression, as well as before and after the Great Depression.
In humiliating scenes reminiscent of the ‘Hungry Mile’, cruel bosses would demand to know who that guy was, what he was doing here and whether he was actually qualified. Shop stewards would then take the boss aside and be forced to give assurances that it was none of the company’s fucking business mate so just fuck off why-don’t-you.
Before the spy scandal broke, unions had been confident that tight deadlines on the $5.7 billion project had given them the leverage required to ensure Thiess Degrémont didn’t return to the bad old days of businesses not being extorted at every turn.
Victoria desperately needs the new plant, which can convert 150 billion litres of ocean each year, before the state is completely overrun by salt water.
As recently as 10,000 years ago Victoria lost all visible trace of its key Tasmanian peninsula to the sea. A recent Daily Grind visit to Melbourne saw evidence that all the capital’s classy waterfront suburbs must also have been consumed. Well they must have gone somewhere is all we’re saying.
