IN RESPONSE to a decision handed down by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) on June 9, that will see 70 maintenance workers at Collie’s Griffin coal mine face a 43 per cent pay cut, the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) has requested a stay on the Commissioner’s Order while it appeals the decision.
Create a free account to read this article
or signup to continue reading
AMWU State Secretary Steve McCartney said the maintenance workers would be taking protected industrial action for 24 hours from 5.30am on Friday, June 24, and that they had the full support of the Collie community.
“The coal mine is the lifeblood of the town, and when you attack workers at the coal mine, you attack the whole Collie community,” he said.
“Outrageous cuts to workers pay of this magnitude will have a massive impact on the town, and the Collie community is rallying behind these workers.
“Protected action is always a last resort. All workers are trying to do is to negotiate a new, fair agreement with their employer as is their legal right.”
The FWC approved an application by The Griffin Coal Mining Company to terminate the current enterprise agreement between the company and its maintenance workers after its nominal expiry date on July 10, 2016.
After 12 months of protracted negotiations, the FWC ruled that, in the “public interest” the agreement should be terminated as of July 10.
The maintenance workers would revert back to the Black Coal Mining Industry Award (2010), resulting in the pay cut and loss of entitlements and conditions.
Mr McCartney said negotiations with Griffin Coal Mining had been going on for almost 18 months, and that workers were now facing significant pain because of the company's poor business practices.
“This foreign-owned, multinational company has run the business into the ground, and after months of protracted negotiations, workers were being asked to accept unprecedented wage cuts; reductions to redundancies, entitlements, allowances; and the abolition of protective clauses that had been hard won by previous generations of Collie miners,” he said.
“Workers recognise the difficult position that the coal mining sector is in, and have worked hard to increase productivity and make sacrifices where possible.
“Workers had also agreed for some entitlements to be reduced, and for wages to be frozen.
“But instead of bargaining in good faith, Griffin Coal elected to kick these workers, their families and the whole Collie community square in the guts.”