Announced to North Goonyella staff yesterday, a Peabody spokesperson told ILN the company was seeking up to 30 voluntary redundancies in a number of positions as part of a restructured operating model for the mine.

On the other hand, Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union vice-president Glenn Power told ILN the company was seeking to retrench 35 production employees.

While the current EBA for the mine expired at the end of March, and the parties are no closer to a new agreement, the Peabody spokesperson said the company had been separately conducting a cost improvement initiative for the past 5-6 months across operations in the US and Australia.

“As a result of this analysis, it was identified that a restructured model at North Goonyella would not only enhance productivity but it would also significantly improve safety,” the spokesperson said.

“So we’re focused on moving towards this restructured model to really build a sustainable business at North Goonyella.”

She said the cost improvement program was “commencing with North Goonyella”, and acknowledged the challenges at the mine, but said Peabody wanted to make sure it has a long future.

On the ongoing EBA negotiations with union representatives, she said there was a focus on the roster and work hours.

“We’ve built a model that we believe can deliver cost efficiencies to North Goonyella mine, and this model will ensure that family-work life balances are actually a lot easier to achieve.”

She added the roster was designed to deliver enhancements to productivity, but also to safety and training.

Meanwhile, Power said the current protected industrial action had workers at the unionised mine undertaking four three-hour stoppages in a 24-hour cycle, or two per 12-hour shift, since Saturday.

Union members at the mine will have a ballot on the weekend to decide whether to ramp up the rolling stoppages to either 24 hours, 48 hours or up to seven days.

Power said the industrial action could go on for a few weeks and noted the EBA negotiations covered a raft of issues, including rates of pay and the new work roster.

About 280 workers were taking part in the industrial action, while the mine has another 140 company staff and management.