Mr Whitehead said the logging protesters had set up a camp in the coupe on Sunday to protest against the logging of hardwood in regrowth areas of state forest. "Our main concern is native logging in an area where the main employer is tourism," he said.
The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, forestry division, responded to the environmentalists' protest camp by setting up picket lines on Monday. "Since Monday they have not let any of our members in or out," Mr Whitehead said. The union's state secretary, Ms lane Calvert, said timber workers were "fed up" with protesters disrupting their workplace and affecting their livelihoods. "It is an issue of safety for our members," she said. "The protesters lock on to machinery and camp outside the coupe ... and with protesters nearby you can never be too sure when they will get in the way. It is not a safe place to work in," she said.
Ms Calvert said about 200 loggers and allied timber industry workers from the Colac Otway Shire, were manning the pickets around the clock. She said the picket lines along Seaview Ridge Road stopped protesters from leaving the logging site. Ms Calvert said it would remain until the environmentalists promised to cease protest blockades in the Otways.
"The workers have had enough. Logging is a seasonal job ... the men are paid piece rates and have families to support," she said. "The conservationists should direct their views at the decision makers, not the workers." Mr Whitehead said the loggers had verbally abused network members.
Both groups had reported vandalism on their property. Apollo Bay police
were patrolling the dispute.