Unions have organised a protest outside state Wendouree MP Juliana Addison's office for Tuesday, calling on the Labor member to stand up for jobs at the Ballarat Alstom train facility.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Workers have been waiting for months for word from the state government about the X'Trapolis 2.0 project, which, if approved, will create new metropolitan trains for Melbourne and keep at least 70 workers directly employed, and hundreds more indirectly.
However, once work on the current order of trains is finished, there is no certainty the workforce will be retained by the factory.
READ MORE ON ALSTOM:
Design work has been completed by Alstom on the X'Trapolis 2.0 project, and the state government is reviewing the designs.
On Friday, before he spoke at the state Labor conference on Saturday, Alstom worker and Rail, Tram and Bus Union member Luke Cornish told The Courier workers wanted answers from a state government which had promised more work during the election campaign.
The union moved a motion at the conference, passed unanimously, "encouraging" a "substantive order of trains that will provide security and certainty".
Ms Addison will be in Melbourne and Shepparton on Tuesday on parliamentary committee business, helping conduct an inquiry into sustainable employment for long term and disadvantaged job seekers, and had informed Alstom's Combined Union Secretaries.
In a statement, she said the state government will continue to negotiate in good faith with Alstom to continue to support local jobs.
"The Andrews Labor Government invested $103.5 million in five new six-carriage X'Trapolis trains in the 2018-19 Victorian Budget to meet growing passenger demand on Melbourne's rail network, while retaining jobs and skills in Ballarat until at least the middle of next year," she said.
The rally begins on Lydiard Street at noon.
Have you signed up to The Courier's variety of news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in Ballarat.
