The Electrical Trades Union has seized on the circumstances surrounding the brutal sacking of 230 workers on a Queensland solar farm by text message at 6am Monday morning. The ETU says it’s an example of the ugly and brutal side of the Coalition’s industrial relations agenda.

The 230 full time casual workers, many of whom were working 60+ hours a week on the Gangarri project near Wandoan, were given no notice according to the union.

“We have an appalling situation where hard-working Queenslanders, electricians and mechanical fitters have been sacked due to a ‘contractual disagreement’ between two companies Davis Contracting and Sterling & Wilson, the workers were given no notice other than a text message at 6am and they and their families face an uncertain future. It’s brutal and it’s disgusting.” ETU state secretary Peter Ong says.

He adds that this example is the latest in a long line of mistreatment of casual and labour hire workers, demonstrating how broken the industrial relations system has become.

The ETU will be campaigning for more rights for casual workers not less, as proposed by the LNP’s so-called Omnibus Bill.

“Big businesses like Sterling & Wilson have exploited the loopholes in the Fair Work legislation, where they can let workers go at a whim, they don’t care how the workers are treated, it’s all about getting the biggest bang for their buck,” Peter says.

“And that is exactly what the LNP wanted, they designed the legislation to ensure maximum flexibility at the expense of job security and this has resulted in these kinds of business models of exploitation,” Peter says.

“The renewables industry should be providing secure jobs to Australian workers employed by local contractors who pay their bills, we will continue to fight for better protections for casual workers and labour hire as well as certainty and accountability in this important sector.”