Angry subcontractors say they are prepared to picket several unfinished housing sites in the Illawarra if they are not given some compensation for unpaid work they completed on behalf of the State Government.
Plasterers, builders and other tradespeople gathered in Wollongong yesterday where they affirmed their willingness to blockade the government-owned sites which were supposed to provide social housing.
The projects were originally intended to pump money into a flagging economy hit by the global financial crisis.
In 2009, 135 new public housing units at 10 different sites were approved for construction in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven as part of a federally funded housing stimulus package.
The developments included unit and townhouse developments in Corrimal, Fairy Meadow, Mt Warrigal, Tarrawanna, Towradgi, three sites at Warilla and two sites at Bomaderry.
However, as costs escalated and the projects ran over budget, the State Government refused to pay the difference and the developments stalled.
The government-hired builders collapsed, leaving subcontractors unpaid and the housing projects unfinished.
Backed by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the subcontractors have been waging a campaign aimed at convincing the NSW Government to provide compensation to the subcontractors.
The Government, however, said its priority was to finish the projects. Last month it sought tenders for the sites.
But subcontractors say they want the successful tenderers to only hire subcontractors who were left unpaid in the initial construction phase.
Dapto plumber Adam Christofides said he was left $160,000 out of pocket when the project stalled. He said if subcontractors were not allowed to finish the work and access compensation, they would picket the sites.
"We will block access," he said. "They will simply not get access to this site."
CFMEU state organiser Mick Lane said the subcontractors had a right to finish the work on the building sites and to have payment guaranteed.
"The CFMEU will be ... seeking some sort of future assurances that contractors will be paid and can go into these sort of projects in the future with a degree of confidence," he said.
Minister for Finance and Services Greg Pearce said a list of subcontractors affected would be provided to the winning tenderers, to urge them to consider hiring those who lost money.
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