300 workers on strike at desalination plant in Australia

CANBERRA. November 19. KAZINFORM About 300 union workers on Friday have refused to work at two construction sites in Melbourne of Australia, in support of industrial action by their colleagues at Victoria's desalination plant. Kazinform refers to Xinhua.

The strike came amid claims that contractor Thiess had hired a spy to investigate employees.

It said workers involved on Melbourne's M80 ring-road upgrade and a new railway station at Newport also walked off on Friday.

The Victorian secretary of the CFMEU's construction division, Bill Oliver, told Australia Associated Press about 300 workers in total walked off the job in support of the desal workers.

Oliver said the allegations of covert monitoring at the desal plant by security outfit Australian Security Investigations (ASI) has stunned union officials.

The union officials then ordered their members to stop work and not return until spy files are either handed over or destroyed.

Work on Victoria's 5.7 billion U.S. dollars desalination facility is unlikely to resume until Monday at the earliest. Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.xinhuanet.com for full version