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The company is trying to exclude four mines from its next Enterprise Agreement, including the Blackwater mine, Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union district president Steve Smyth said.
“This would set a very dangerous precedent for the mining workforce and Queensland workers possibly creating ‘second class’ mining communities with lower rates of pay, conditions and entitlements,” Smyth said.
“The Bowen Basin is now the front line in the fight against mining companies drive to strip away the working conditions and entitlements and bring US style working conditions to this country.
“BHP has not identified to the union any reasonable basis for Blackwater mine to be excluded from the new agreement. We will not leave Blackwater workers, families and the community out in the cold.
A BHP Billiton spokesperson told ICN that BMA is seeking a separate Enterprise Agreement to cover its Blackwater mine which has lower quality coal products which receive lower prices.
“This places the mine under even greater financial pressure. Blackwater mine is also geographically distinct from the remaining mines covered by the current agreement,” the spokesperson said.
Smyth said Blackwater is still “hurting after the BMA announced 300 permanent jobs would go”
“When the last Agreement was negotiated in 2012, the Aussie dollar was worth more than $US1, meaning much of the impact of lower coal prices is now being offset by a lower exchange rate. So the notion BMA must pay workers less for the next agreement appears to be just corporate spin,” he said.
Smyth also questioned whether the company would exclude Gregory Crinum and Norwich Park mines from any new enterprise agreement.
“We believe that BHP may seek to continue operations or re-open those mines in the future, after seeking to exclude them from any new enterprise agreement, in an attempt to avoid legal protections and entitlements provided for in an enterprise agreement,” he said.
“The Bowen Basin Enterprise Agreement should cover the same mine sites and employees as the existing agreement.”
Smyth said workers would draw a line in the sand on this Enterprise Agreement.
