CFMEU Sydney lawyer Ivan Simic, the union’s state secretary Brian Parker and local union representative Jim Hutcheon in Port Macquarie this morning.
UNION representatives say they have proof workers on the highway upgrade were unnecessarily exposed to a toxic substance.
CFMEU (Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union) state secretary Brian Parker and the union's Sydney lawyer Ivan Simic, from Taylor and Scott Lawyers, met with local union representative Jim Hutcheon in Port Macquarie this morning.
Mr Parker told the Port News he had Government documents from over a decade ago which prove the Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) had knowledge of 150kg of a poisonous substance in the ground.
If medical evidence of workers’ experiencing illness caused by exposure to the chemicals can be obtained, the union will begin a class action against the RMS, Mr Parker said.
Mr Parker called on the state government-run body to release results of toxicology test conducted in the area.
"There's been a cover-up. They've been working around the site for over a year, and now they [the NSW government] are investigating it themselves but we want someone formally independent to led the investigation and full disclosure of what they find," Mr Parker said,
The men will this afternoon meet with Laurieton doctor Peter Mayne who treated the workers.
The men were among the five workers who were treated after they began to vomit and feel nauseated when an unusual clay was uncovered on part of the Herons Creek to Stills Road section of the highway upgrade last month.
Full story: Monday's Port News
