CFMMEU secretary John Setka has written a letter to the Victorian premier and chief health officer, demanding that the building and construction industry heads back to work to help rebuild the economy post-COVID-19.

In the letter, he says that the construction industry has continued to lead workers safely through the pandemic with the priority always on the safety and livelihoods of its members.

“We implemented extreme safety measures well beyond those we were required to do in the early stages of the pandemic to ensure the protection of all construction workers.”.

He adds: “These procedures meant we were better placed than any other industry to continue working and we must be allowed to do just that – not only to protect the livelihoods of the 300,000 plus Victorian construction workers but to lead the recovery of the Victorian economy.”

Some of the measures the industry has in place are on-site infectious disease awareness training, temperature checking, site mapping, COVID-19 safe jobsite fogging, ongoing mobile testing (run by Incolink) and many other measures.

“The success of these safety measures is evident with the onsite COVID-19 confirmed commercial construction cases continuing to be at a minimum with only three cases in the past six weeks and zero cases in the past three weeks,” John adds.

“As the backbone of this country, the 300,000 plus Victorian construction workers across all sectors must go back to work now.

“The onsite COVID-19 safety measures will continue to be an absolute priority, in the provision of protection for the construction industry and the community at large.”