Union considering legal action over claims staff locked down during Snowy 2.0 strike

Australia Broadcast Center

23-05-2025

The Australian Workers Union is threatening legal action over the alleged treatment by Snowy 2.0 contractors of striking tunnel workers.
More than 1,000 workers walked off the job on the multi-billion dollar pumped hydro energy project on Wednesday in a bid to push for pay similar to their employer WeBuild's workers on the North East Link Tunnels in Melbourne.
The union's organiser Darren Cameron met with workers at Snowy Mountains Airport, outside Cooma, on Thursday where he alleged the union had been unable to meet with some members during the strike.
"To add insult to injury, the project put out a directive that nobody could leave the project or enter the project," Mr Cameron said.
WeBuild and Snowy Hydro have been contacted for comment.
Mr Cameron said workers, like their emplyer, want the $12 billion project finished after it was plagued by tunnelling delays in recent years due to what Snowy Hydro called a challenging geological fault zone.
Last year, the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure approved an application by Snowy Hydro to use a fourth tunnel boring machine which is set to begin excavating by the end of the year.
Mr Cameron said further strike action will go ahead next week if the workers' demands are not met.
"The same company is doing exactly the same kind of tunnelling work in Melbourne for 12 per cent more pay," he said.
"The conditions on this project are arduous.
"These people should be the highest paid tunnellers in Australia, not the lowest, which is the current situation.
"We are aiming to change that."
He said the pay issue will go before the Fair Work Commission on Tuesday and he hopes it will be resolved before further industrial action next week.
The CFMEU's state organiser for the union's Construction and General Branch, Mark Cross, was also in Cooma on Thursday and said the unions have come together to make sure workers are being taken care of following the implosion of a ventilation fan in February.
He said safety concerns were impacting the mental health of workers and their families.
"The isolation factor of living in a remote camp means communications are not the greatest in terms of being able to reach out to their friends and families," he said.
"It is impacting these guys."
Electrical Trades Union organiser Jarred Pearce said he had hope the issue of pay parity would be dealt with by the employer.
"We are trying to get the right outcome for both wages and safety."