South32’s Appin coal mine will will be hit by industrial action from this weekend, with 63 of the mine’s deputies to down tools for six-hour stints from Sunday.
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All shifts will take the legally protected industrial action, which will comprise two consecutive three-hour stop-work meetings, as part of long-running negotiations for an enterprise agreement.
Kylie Rooke, industrial officer at the Collieries’ Staff and Officials Association, said the deputies had recently overwhelming voted down South32’s EBA offer.
“The Appin mine has faced many challenges in the past year, with multiple gas exceedances, prohibition notices from the regulator and several overhauls of senior management,” she said.
“It’s the deputies and staff who worked through all these challenges to ensure a safe, long-term viable future for Appin and they want to be fairly remunerated for it.
“The Appin deputies are highly skilled front-line supervisors who are responsible for driving production and ensuring that work is performed safely and to plan.
“Appin mine has spent millions in the past year bringing in contract labour from Queensland, yet to date they haven’t seen fit to remunerate their front-line supervisors fairly.”