A group of immigrant workers have allegedly been illegally living on-site at an under-construction luxury high-rise complex in Sydney.
The labourers, from Fiji, are living and working in “dangerous and disgusting conditions” at the 40-storey Victoria Place development in Burwood, according to embattled union the CFMEU.
Photos and video show bedding, a washing machine, clothes racks and suitcases on the site, and a construction worker told The Sydney Morning Herald the migrant workers had been sleeping on mattresses on the floors “for months”.
The union made the allegations to regulator SafeWork NSW last week after an inspection at the site, which according to advertisements will feature “luxury living” off-the-plan apartments in an “all-encompassing precinct home”.
“I am writing to inform you of a significant violation that occurred this morning at the TQM project, 28 Victoria [St], Burwood,” the CFMEU said in an email.
“On arrival at the site, it was very obvious … that Fijian migrant workers who are working on the site in dangerous and disgusting conditions are also living on the site. Today, my officials went into what has to be the worst project in Sydney, given that people are living in it.”
A video of the inspection showed a union official pointing out bedding and and laundry, and when the site manager denied workers were sleeping on site the CFMEU delegate asked: “Why are people doing their laundry then? … I’ve been here 30 years. No one brings their underpants on site and washes them at work.”
Builder TQM denied allowing workers to sleep on site, said it had found “no evidence to support these allegations”, and that a mattress and belongings were from a neighbouring property and did not “infer any person was living there”.
“TQM was not aware of any person residing within the development, and the company has no evidence that the site was ever used for residential accommodation,” a spokesperson said.
“Construction sites frequently contain a wide range of materials, tools, personal belongings, and other items stored as part of normal operations, so the items in question would not inherently signal unauthorised occupancy.”
Header image: Left, right, personal belongs, laundry and bedding found at the site (CFMEU).
