Xstrata not swayed by strike action at NSW Hunter Valley mine

Monday, 14 Sep 2009

Big pond quoted Xstrata Coal as saying that it will not be swayed by strike action at a mine in the NSW Hunter Valley that is set to close in March but could reopen later.

More than 100 workers at the company's United Collieries mine, 15 kilometers west of Singleton began a 4 day strike on September 10th 2009. Negotiations for a new enterprise agreement have stalled over union demands for retrenched workers to be guaranteed reemployment if the mine should reopen.

Mr James Rickards spokesman of Xstrata said that the company will not transfer the affected workers to another mine or offer speculative employment. He said that “Traditionally we don't redeploy employees between one operation to another. They have the opportunity like everyone else; to apply for any new positions that may come available at other operations.”


Mr Richards said that “It certainly wouldn't commence for many years because of the feasibility studies that have to go into place, the financial approvals and let alone the government and local council approvals.”

The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union said that the company plans to resume mining coal on the same lease in 2012.

Mr Robin Williams spokesman of CFMEU mining said that “We have been sitting at the negotiating table with the company for 3 months. Xstrata continually tell us that we're good workers, hard workers yet they would not entertain a job security clause in the agreement.”

Mr Rickards said that no such reopening date had been considered at Xstrata and accused the union of using the enterprise agreement negotiations to gain exposure. It's a case of we can't provide guarantees of future employment to our current employees for 2012, 2013 or 2015 because we can't guarantee there will be jobs available.

He said that “It's perhaps unfortunate that the unions seem to be using this at this time for political posturing reasons as opposed to the real welfare of their members.”

Mr Rickards said that the mine would continue to operate during the 4 day strike with more than half its workers remaining on the job. He said that plans to slash the workforce from 550 staff to 428 at the company's Ulan mine, North West of Mudgee had also begun.

Xstrata has begun a review of possible mining operations at its United Collieries sites. One option could be to convert the underground mine to an open cut operation to access additional coal reserves but any start up in the area would be in the distant future.
(Sourced from Bigpondnews.com)