Appin mine workers have rallied outside South32’s Wollongong headquarters in protest of a “dangerous and irresponsible” decision to lock supervisors out and replace them with inexperienced “people off the street”.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
About 60 of the mine’s supervisors – those responsible for underground tasks such as gas monitoring and routine safety inspections – were locked out in retaliation for taking protected industrial action, the union representing the workers has said.
The week-long lockout, which began on Monday, followed management’s attempt to “force a new roster onto supervisors”, according to Collieries Staff & Officials Association (CSOA) senior industrial officer Kylie Rooke.
The new roster required supervisors to work an extra four hours for no additional pay.
Read more: South32 locks out workers at Appin coal mine
In response, the workers took protected industrial action, in the form of overtime bans, and “now South32 has seen fit to lock them out for a week”, Ms Rooke said.
“That’s a week without work, or a week without pay, that will really compromise their ability to put food on the table for their families,” she said.
The CSOA described South32’s decision to lock out its workers as “short-sighted”.
“We think it’s very short-sighted of South32 to take this step. We just don’t see how they can pull off, in some cases, very inexperienced people off the street, rush through training and not expect safety to be compromised,” Ms Rooke said.
The protest was held on the eve of Tuesday’s 39th anniversary of the Appin mine disaster that killed 14 people.
Ms Rooke said the very workers responsible for monitoring gas levels at the “very gassy” mine were locked out.
Mining at Appin was halted by the Resources Regulator for three months last year due to excessive gas levels.
The company told the Mercury the hours of work stipulated in the proposed enterprise agreement, which has been under negotiation for more than two years, had not increased from the current agreement.
Ms Rooke agreed the “hours in the agreement itself, the span of hours that they can work” hadn’t changed.
An Illawarra Coal spokeswoman said South32 had offered the supervisors a package that was “on par with similar roles in the region”, including an agreement signed at the Dendrobium mine last month.
“It increases remuneration and retains all benefits,” she said.
“The offer remunerates deputies for 45 hours per week, with their roster requiring them to work four ten-hour shifts per week.
“After the offer was voted down and the deputies engaged in rolling industrial action, South32 has removed the deputies from site for one week in the interests of the safety and stability of the mine, which is currently being safely operated with skilled and qualified alternative labour.”