Many of the 70 staff members set to lose their Transport Accident Commission jobs were restructured out of permanent work and thrust into insecure contract jobs, a Victorian union says.
The Victorian government-owned organisation has decided not to renew 70 contract positions in Geelong.
The TAC said the positions were associated with projects that are due to expire between now and the end of June.
"These positions are not permanent and were always expected to finish when their fixed-term contracts on various projects were completed," the TAC said in a statement.
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has condemned TAC's decision not to renew the contracts of workers who went from previously secure roles to contract work when TAC relocated to Geelong.
"Many of those TAC staff being cut had substantive positions previously and were restructured out of those into insecure contract jobs that will now end on 30 June," CPSU state secretary Karen Batt said.
"By any standard spilling permanent TAC staff who relocated into insecure jobs and ending their contracts is low."
The news is another blow for Geelong after Alcoa announced it will close its Geelong-based aluminium smelter and rolling mills, with about 500 jobs expected to be cut by August.
The regional city has also experienced job losses at Ford, Target, Boral Waurn Ponds and Qantas at Avalon Airport.
