Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union general secretary Andrew Vickers estimates more than 85% of workers in the black coal mining industry are covered under existing provisions.

 

But he said there were growing numbers of coal workers who were not covered because of legislative changes such as the Howard government’s Work Choices policy.

 

“Contractors and labour hire people are most at risk,” he said.

 

“They constitute the greatest concentration of people who aren’t getting long-service leave entitlements at this immediate point in time.”

 

From January 1, any coal mining employer will be required to pay the levy into the government-run long-service leave fund for the industry, which will entitle casual workers to long-service leave payments.

 

The new amendments apply to “portable” long-service leave, meaning the entitlements are accrued even if coal workers shift around to different coal mines and employers during their careers.

 

As part of a second-phase strategy, Vickers told ILN the union was working with Canberra bureaucrats to resolve various technical and legal issues in order to implement retrospective long-service entitlements.

 

He said hopefully these changes would rectify the problem for workers who had not accrued long-service leave in the last 10 years, but under “normal circumstances” would have been entitled to it.

 

Vickers said the union was proposing to privatise the fund and he expected the second phase of the long-service leave overhaul to kick in by mid-2010.

 

The coal industry’s long-service leave scheme gives workers 13 weeks of paid leave following eight years of employment.

 

The union estimates up to 2000 coal miners will gain the right to portable long-service leave under the amendments.