The Fair Work Commission (FWC) this week ruled the PKCT Limited Enterprise Agreement 2012-2015 be terminated, effective from 29 April next year.

CFMEU district vice-president Bob Timbs said the union “absolutely will not rule out further industrial action” in the next 12 months, but admitted the decision was “better news” than members were expecting.

“Generally they terminate them [agreements] without notice, so this is a bit of an unusual decision,” Mr Timbs told the Mercury.

“I think it reflects probably the view of the commission that the company wasn’t bargaining in good faith, that it would have been against the public interest to terminate it straight away.”

Mr Timbs said the FWC’s decision to terminate the agreement in a year’s time was a “welcome step in the right direction”.

“[It’s] not exactly what we wanted; we would have preferred if they had of rejected the company’s application, but we’ll take what we’ve got,” he said.

Mr Timbs said the union and its members would use the next 12 months to continue to call on shareholders to “intervene and come to the table so we can negotiate a fair and reasonable outcome”.

A PKCT spokeswoman said: “The parties will now continue negotiations for a replacement agreement.”

“Port Kembla Coal Terminal supports the Fair Work Commission's decision and looks forward to having a replacement Enterprise Agreement that sets the business up for a sustainable future,” she said. 

The FWC decision came amid ongoing industrial action by union members as a new EBA is negotiated.

Workers have been locked out of the terminal on three occasions this year as PKCT took a hard line on the industrial dispute.

A lockout on March 23 followed one in early January, when workers were shut out for four days, and another last month. 

PKCT – which is owned and operated by mining companies South 32, Glencore, Peabody Energy, Centennial Coal and Wollongong Coal – had applied to have the existing agreement terminated.