CONTRACTORS have called on the state government to intervene after finding themselves out of work on the National Broadband Network rollout. Brighton-based contractor Andrew Bullock said many workers promised between four and six years' employment on the underground rollout of superfast broadband had not worked on the project in more than 10 months. ``At the end of the day we want to go back to work - we want the work we were promised,'' Mr Bullock said. ``The state government needs to step up and assist contractors, otherwise we're going to go bust and take a lot of full-time employees with us.'' Mr Bullock said state government representatives had promised to lobby for a meeting between contractors and Visionstream, the company responsible for the rollout across the state. ``They've basically said they'll get Visionstream to sit down in a room with us to try and resolve the issues,'' he said. ``But Visionstream don't even turn up to parliamentary inquiries, so we don't hold out much hope they'll turn up.'' Mr Bullock said workers were ready to launch legal proceedings against Visionstream if the matter wasn't resolved within weeks. ``We're just waiting to see whether the government can organise the meeting,'' he said. ``Otherwise we've got a barrister on the mainland who's willing to start that class action for us.'' Premier Will Hodgman said he was very concerned about workers affected by changes to the NBN rollout. ''We are actively pursuing opportunities for those workers here in Tasmania to have their voice heard, to lobby obviously the federal government and to make representations on their behalf,'' Mr Hodgman said. ``But of course the federal government has to deal with an appalling legacy left by the Labor-Green government in Canberra.''
CONTRACTORS have called on the state government to intervene after finding themselves out of work on the National Broadband Network rollout.
Brighton-based contractor Andrew Bullock said many workers promised between four and six years' employment on the underground rollout of superfast broadband had not worked on the project in more than 10 months.
``At the end of the day we want to go back to work - we want the work we were promised,'' Mr Bullock said.
``The state government needs to step up and assist contractors, otherwise we're going to go bust and take a lot of full-time employees with us.''
Mr Bullock said state government representatives had promised to lobby for a meeting between contractors and Visionstream, the company responsible for the rollout across the state.
``They've basically said they'll get Visionstream to sit down in a room with us to try and resolve the issues,'' he said.
``But Visionstream don't even turn up to parliamentary inquiries, so we don't hold out much hope they'll turn up.''
Mr Bullock said workers were ready to launch legal proceedings against Visionstream if the matter wasn't resolved within weeks.
``We're just waiting to see whether the government can organise the meeting,'' he said.
``Otherwise we've got a barrister on the mainland who's willing to start that class action for us.''
Premier Will Hodgman said he was very concerned about workers affected by changes to the NBN rollout.
''We are actively pursuing opportunities for those workers here in Tasmania to have their voice heard, to lobby obviously the federal government and to make representations on their behalf,'' Mr Hodgman said.
``But of course the federal government has to deal with an appalling legacy left by the Labor-Green government in Canberra.''
