Legacy Way tunnel Brisbane Credit:Tony Moore "There was a lot of slower activity in those final months and that was just the reality of the job, so that did result in the slowing down in the final few months." When asked if it was a deliberate tactic by workers to slow the project down, Cr Quirk did not back down. "You can draw your own conclusions," he said. "I'm simply saying the electrical and mechanical side of it took longer than expected."

Legacy Way opened to traffic on June 25 this year, 10 days behind schedule. The construction consortium, Transcity, was charged $2.05 million as a result of the late delivery. Labor lord mayoral candidate Rod Harding said Cr Quirk's claim was an "outrageous slur on workers". "This disgraceful attack shows he is either out of touch or simply has no idea about the projects happening under his watch," he said. "If the lord mayor has a genuine case to make he should stump up the proof immediately or issue an unequivocal apology to the tradespeople who worked on Legacy Way."

My Harding also questioned Cr Quirk's basis for the allegation. "The lord mayor consistently stated the late opening of Legacy Way was due to safety reasons." Cr Quirk said the slow-down happened in the "earlier part of the year", ahead of systems testing. "It could have been (union related), but again that's a matter for the company to deal with and in the end it wasn't anything that influenced any financial outcome," he said. Cr Quirk clarified that statement when it was pointed out the delay came at a cost to Transcity.

"It did to the company, but not to the people of Brisbane," he said. Electrical Trades Union organiser Chris Lynch said Cr Quirk's claims were "offensive and wrong". "There was no go slow by the workers, the exact opposite was true, we were always in contact with the contractor ODG every step of the way to ensure maximum work was carried out," he said. "What the lord mayor has said is an out-and-out lie. "As far as the electrical team is concerned they worked long hours, they were working 12-hour shifts at the end of the project, some had to cancel overseas holidays so they could finish the project off."

Mr Lynch said the ETU also refuted Cr Quirk's suggestion the electricians had no work to go to next. He said the "vast majority" of those who worked on Legacy Way were already back in work and many had jobs lined up before the project was originally scheduled to finish. "We had guys who knocked back jobs start at Inpex in Darwin and to work at Curtis Island so they could finish the Legacy Way Tunnel," he said. Labor lord mayoral candidate Rod Harding said the Lord Mayor needed to produce evidence to back up his claim. "This is an outrageous slur on workers by Cr Quirk," he said.

"What's the basis for these allegations? "The Lord Mayor consistently stated the late opening of Legacy Way was due to safety reasons. "This disgraceful attack shows he is either out of touch or simply has no idea about the projects happening under his watch. "If the Lord Mayor has a genuine case to make he should stump up the proof immediately or issue an unequivocal apology to the tradespeople who worked on Legacy Way." Late on Friday afternoon, a spokesman for Cr Quirk said his comments were based on monthly reports and briefings to Brisbane City Council "showing that there was slow productivity and poor progress of work".

"The January report said there was a 12 week delay in the (mechanical and electrical) stage two commissioning," he said. "The February report said the M&E fitout completion had delays of up to four weeks. "The March report said the M&E had delay of four weeks due to poor progress of work. "The April report said the cross passage M&E completion was delayed due to (contractor) MECA slow productivity." Stay informed. Like the Brisbane Times Facebook page