Port Kembla Coal Terminal will lock out its employees for another nine days.
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The latest lock out will start on Wednesday and is expected to stop on March 8.
Coal terminal operations manager Kurt Baumgart told employees it intended to "take employer response action".
The notice of industrial action came through on Tuesday afternoon when the most recent lock out was due to expire and workers were expected to return to work on Wednesday.
The news comes as a coal terminal spokeswoman suggested the union was not acting in workers' best interests.
For several weeks, management at the coal terminal had been calling for what it tagged "a two-week moratorium" on industrial action.
As well as recent strike action over several days, workers have engaged in smaller actions like rolling one-hour stoppages as well as bans on the use of certain equipment.
CFMEU district vice president Bob Timbs said the union had written to PKCT agreeing to call a halt to future industrial action.
"The union wrote back to the company and said, if they would agree in principle with the current job security clause we would agree to a moratorium," Mr Timbs said.
The current agreement, which will officially be struck out on March 29, includes a clause banning the company from retrenching workers and replacing them with contract labour.
The coal terminal management has instead offered one that said, in the event of forced redundancies, contractors would be let go before employees.
"The biggest frustration for the union and its members is the company’s refusal to answer a simple question - why won't they retain the current security clause?", Mr Timbs said.
"They’ve really dug in to maintain the clause. What is their intention? They haven’t done this for nothing."
A PKCT spokeswoman said the revised job security clause allowed some flexibility for the coal terminal and questioned the unions' response.
"PKCT needs to be able to accommodate and adapt to a sector that is highly volatile and cyclical," she said.
"Having said that; PKCT has sought to meet with the CFMEU, which is well aware the company has offered job security to its trades and operators.
"However, this offer is not acceptable to the union which PKCT does not believe is acting in the interests of its employees."
The spokeswoman repeated the company's wishes for a moratorium on strike action to allow negotiations to continue.
"We hope the union can put the interests of its members first and resume negotiations, in good faith."
Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
