The union said the company had put a large body of water in a panel several years ago to stop the coal in that panel from catching fire.
CFMEU Mining and Energy vice-president Glenn Power said the current panel 203 in the Queensland mine sat under that flooded panel.
As a result longwall panel 203 had been experiencing leaking water from the roof for several months.
“The company had instituted a flooding procedure for the panel but assured our members that before commencing production the water would not be an issue,” Power said.
“After about 48 hours of production a large body of water came in through the goaf area flooding the panel.”
Caledon claims no responsibility for its decision in managing the potential for inrush of water from the castor seam.
“The inflow originated from an unknown water source and fully inundated the longwall face and equipment,” it said in a statement to Australia’s Mining Monthly.
The company said the loss of revenue from its primary production source would have a major financial impact on it and, as a result, it had been necessary to implement several measures to reduce expenditure.
“This is not a decision the company takes lightly but is necessary in the circumstances,” it said.
“To alleviate the financial impact on employees, the company will provide affected employees with the opportunity to access accrued annual leave or long service leave entitlements for the relevant period instead of being stood down.”
The CFMEU is disputing the company’s claim that it can stand employees down without pay under their enterprise agreement, through the Fair Work Commission.
However, the dispute has been set back by two months until Caledon’s appeal of a previous FWC decision has been finalised.
“Workers have financial commitments, bills to pay and families to support,” Power said.
“But the company refuses to implement any genuine attempts by the CFMEU to minimise the impact on individual employees.
“This issue could be avoided if the company agrees to arbitrate the dispute. By not agreeing to this they are stopping justice for the workers who have been stood down.”
