Over 70 Aurizon rail workers in Mount Isa, Hughenden, Cloncurry and Townsville have received the worst news at the worst possible time this week.
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Their jobs have become redundant after Aurizon lost a Glencore Mount Isa Mines contract to Pacific National with the last date of the current contract January 31, 2017.
It’s possible there may be new employment opportunities with Pacific National as a result of these changes, but for those who want to stay with Aurizon the news is grim just two weeks out from Christmas.
Aurizon say no definite decision will be made on any job losses until they discuss it with the people directly affected but if redeployment opportunities exist, they won’t be in the north-west so that will mean more families leaving the region.
The impact will be particularly devastating on the town of Hughenden which is losing 29 of the 76 jobs.
Opposition deputy leader Deb Frecklington has called on the state government to intervene for Hughenden for, as she puts it, the job losses there would be equivalent to 46,000 jobs lost in Brisbane.
I certainly hope the government is listening but it is not just Hughenden that is affected.
Aurizon is making 38 positions redundant in Mount Isa, eight in Townsville and one in Cloncurry.
Mount Isa can ill afford these losses coming on the back of redundancies in Glencore’s copper and zinc operations in recent years.
Whenever people leave town there is a ripple effect throughout the community.
As the railway workers union rep told the North West Star, these staff all earn good money which is spent in the local economy, not to mention contributing to schools, churches, sporting and recreation clubs, and other community organisations.
The union also says the company is overreacting to the loss of 14 services in the region.
They say the main problem is many of the senior managers making the decisions have no operational background knowledge resulting in poor management decisions which sadly is passed onto the workers who pay the price for the bad choices being pursued. DB