LOCAL businesses have missed out on work at the new jail site at South Nowra because they have been undercut by operators allegedly breaking the law, according to the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union.

Five CFMEU officials spent Monday and Tuesday at the jail site and came away calling for an investigation into the practices of at least one of the contractors building the jail.

Union organiser Stuart Edward said the visit uncovered “firm evidence” at least one company was employing people without paying superannuation or workers compensation insurance, and was paying workers cash in hand to dodge taxation requirements.

The evidence was “enough to warrant an investigation”, Mr Edward claimed.

He felt more than one company may have been involved in the practice because people were arriving on the jail site claiming to work for a particular company, but their names were allegedly not on the company’s list of employees.

Jail project manager with Richard Crookes Construction, David Archibold, confirmed the union had paperwork that differed from the records he held, and he was keen to work with the union to sort out any discrepancies.

However, Mr Archibold stressed, “we check all personnel records prior to anyone starting on site”.

He was satisfied everyone working on the project was properly covered by awards and entitlements, which was checked during inductions to work on the project.

Mr Edward suggested companies might have insurance cover for only some of its workers on the building site, which could create major problems if a worker was injured or even killed on the job.

He suggested problems of workers compensation covering only some of a company’s workers were becoming more common within the building industry.

Lead contractor Richard Crookes Constructions was “obviously very interested to find out what’s going on there as well”, Mr Edward said.

CFMEU state organiser Sammy Manna was also concerned about allegations some workers were being paid cash in hand, cutting all the on-costs associated with hiring labour, because it meant local companies could not compete with Sydney companies bringing workers into the area at below award conditions.