MP SUPPORTS BALLARAT TRAIN WORKS - CHALLENGES PREMIER TO DO THE SAME
Member for Western Victoria Region Bev McArthur MP this week spoke in support of the Ballarat rail workshop, under threat of closure due to the Government’s failure to assure the company of future work. She invited Premier Daniel Andrews and Transport Minister Jacinta Allan to visit the Alstom yard and assure workers that the Government sees a future for the historic facility.
Mrs McArthur said: “Alstom currently employs 70 workers in Ballarat, but is expecting to launch an exit plan within the next few months if the state government does not extend its contract beyond next April… Alstom’s closure would be extremely detrimental to the local Ballarat economy.”
Highlighting the high regard workers and the local community have for the company, she noted: “Alstom is highly regarded by its workforce… [they] pay workers between train construction jobs to carry out works that benefit the community.” Mrs McArthur concluded: “Can the Minister assure workers that she and the Premier will come to Ballarat to meet with the company and its workers?”
In further quotes attributable, she added: “For too long the Ballarat rail factory has been a political football. Workers feel like the Labour government only turns up at election time, promising a short-term fix to buy votes, not giving real long-term support for Victorian manufacturing jobs.” “Daniel Andrews needs to realise that businesses and workers can’t depend on short-term political buy-offs.”
“Alstom support high-quality, high-skilled manufacturing jobs in Ballarat, and have demonstrated over many years their dedication to the area. But we can’t rely on this goodwill forever – if the new contract is not forthcoming, we will lose a historic facility and an important employer. We have built trains here in Ballarat for more than one hundred years, and to lose that now would be a deeply short-sighted decision.”
Alstom is currently in discussion with the Victorian Department of Transport over a contract to manufacture new trains for Melbourne. The $400m proposal would secure manufacturing on the site until at least 2023, and would see Alstom invest more than $13m in the facility and employ another 270 workers. No indication has been given that the contract will be signed soon, and unions have expressed concern that further delay will make continued manufacturing in Ballarat unviable.
16 October 2019