Sandvik employees have been in dispute with management for about six months over pay and working conditions and staged an overtime ban at the weekend.

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union’s Daniel Wallace said the workers had put forward their claims to management and if the company fails to put a better offer on the table, further action would ensue this week.

“The workers’ ordinary time earnings are $170 a week behind the Australian average wage for a full-time adult," he told International Longwall News.

A meeting between the union and the company will be held on Thursday.

Sandvik would not comment on the issue.

Meanwhile, workers at Resource Pacific’s Newpac No. 1 Colliery have voted to extend their strike action after returning to work last Friday.

Workers at the longwall mine are not satisfied with the proposed work agreement from Resource Pacific, which they say removes bonus clauses from the main agreement, changes stand-down provisions and sick leave bonuses and offers only a 4% pay rise over three years.