Members of Wollongong Coal’s workforce have described their dismay at ongoing jobs uncertainty and their anger at the “noisy few” they say contribute to it.
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The workers were given a rare public platform in Bellambi on Monday at a pro-mining forum hosted by the company.
The event was an organised push-back against opponents to the mine’s plans – twice stymied by the Planning Assessment Commission – to expand its Russell Vale colliery.
Mechanical engineer Jeff Brown, a 46-year veteran of the coal mining industry, described the disbelief of colleagues who had been cut loose from the company amid the uncertainty.
“I saw … genuine fear as they walked back to the shower for the last time, worried about their families and where the next job’s coming from,” he said.
“Each time it’s happened is as gut wrenching as the first. [At] community meetings were told … they did not matter, they could find a job elsewhere.
“Some of those men are still searching for work. Some have had to leave the district and their families. Some have part time work.
“Maybe those people that made those comments should face them and try telling them and their families that they don’t matter.”
The Planning Assessment Commission has twice knocked back Wollongong Coal’s plan to expand mining under the water catchment, despite it being recommended for approval by the Department of Planning and Environment.
The Russell Vale mine was closed last year and 80 people were laid off; the company’s Wongawilli mine remains in care and maintenance mode.
At Monday’s forum, workers presented a petition to Keira MP Ryan Park and heard from Illawarra Business Chamber CEO Debra Murphy, who spoke about the benefits the industry brought to business.
Dominic Tier, a 28-year-old automation engineer said “a noisy few” in the Illawarra opposed the expansion.
“Some may prefer that we in our chosen profession should be sent far away …. we should provide the steel for their needs far away from our families and from our community,” he said.
“I would ask them how they would feel if they were told their work was needed yet they had to conduct it far away from their home for no fault of their own and to appeal to the noisy few.”
