Eden's Blue Ridge Hardwoods timber mill workers say they are facing a real moment of uncertainty as the mill moves into shutdown phase.
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With only 48 working days of logs left in the timber yard the mill looks to close towards the end of February 2020.
And although Member for Bega Andrew Constance has reaffirmed an income support package of $150,000 per employee if sacked, with only three months to go workers aren't so confident the Minister will remain true to his word.
BRH employee Darryn Smith said he was dubious, having not heard any words of assurance since the announcement of the package was made to the workers in March, until Mr Constance took to radio Wednesday morning.
"This package is going to take a lot of time to plan out with individual workers, surely they would have started that process by now," he said.
Mr Smith claimed over the past month he has been trying to contact Mr Constance to receive reassurance that the deal will go ahead, but after numerous phone calls and emails to his office he said he still hadn't heard back directly from the MP.
"Everyone's worried, morale's down and it's bloody hard.
"We just need to know if he is going to honour the agreement, it's as simple as that, then we can start planning for the future. We've all got goals ahead but we can't plan if we don't know what's going to happen."
See Also: Blue Ridge workers speak up
Speaking with ACM on Wednesday, November 20, Mr Constance said the redundancy and re-training package "will be honoured for any employee of Blue Ridge Hardwoods that are terminated at the end of the wood supply agreement with Forestry Corporation".
Mr Constance stated the support package for BRH workers was conditional on management terminating the mill workers' employment from the end of 2019 and they do not transfer to the new sawmill being built by Allied Natural Wood Exports at the chipmill site on Edrom Rd.
"Any discussions with employees on this package will be held directly with affected employees and independent of the mill owner," Mr Constance said.
READ ALSO: Eden Chipmill loads up with new pallet plan
Last week ANWE manager Kel Henry told ACM completion of the new sawmill was proposed for November 2020.
However Mr Smith said there hadn't been any job offers made to the workers at BRH.
"We're not sure if we're going to be offered jobs at the chipmill, and we don't know about the conditions. I've been in the industry for 23 years. I'm not going backwards."
