With Gujarat’s financial position looking especially shaky since it stopped paying its workers, and industrial action also taking place at the Metropolitan mine last week, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union’s Illawarra region representative Bob Timbs has been more difficult to reach.
“I’ve been through probably the hardest week as a trade union official,” Timbs told ILN on Friday.
In regards to the CFMEU initiative to secure funds from the Long Service Leave Corporation for a one-off payment to the Gujarat workforce, Timbs said it would be about $A1800 before tax.
The funds made available to Gujarat can only be paid to the workforce as they require Timbs signature for their release.
There is hope that Jindal Steel and Power will approve Gujarat’s share offer on October 16, over buying $66 million worth of Gujarat shares.
While they are entering their fourth week today without pay, Timbs said at least half of the workforce was there last week.
There have been sporadic stoppages since the unpaid wages crisis emerged, but Timbs said the Wongawilli longwall was otherwise “ticking over”.
He said the NRE No1 longwall was parked up at the moment under a good sandstone roof, with staff for that operation doing maintenance work.
The next big CFMEU-organised meeting of both mine’s workforces is scheduled for tomorrow. The union will provide financial advisers and counsellors, while federal and local politicians are expected to attend.
Metropolitan
While some enterprise agreement battles are over conditions and entitlements, the ongoing EA dispute at Metropolitan is about salaries.
Timbs said the union wanted a 4% salary increase, while Peabody management had offered 0%, or a wage freeze, for three years.
The union official said this was effectively a freeze of more than four years, because the last salary increase was 15 months ago.
Industrial action started last week. On Monday and Wednesday, production was limited to one shear per shift on the longwall, while development was capped at 5m per shift. On Tuesday there was a ban on the operation of diesel-powered vehicles.
“It made it very difficult for them,” Timbs said.
There were consecutive 24-hour stoppages on Thursday and Friday. Given that today is a public holiday in New South Wales, it could go for another day.
Timbs said that Peabody had so far only offered “minimal” increases in years two and three of its proposed EA, confirming that they were below the rate of inflation.
“If we accepted this pay deal we would be upwards of 20% behind other competitive mines in the Illawarra district,” Timbs said.
More industrial action is expected this week.
“Negotiations have completely broken down,” Timbs said.
“We haven’t spoken with the company for a week and a half at least.”
A Peabody spokesperson said the mine’s existing EA expired at the end of June.
“Peabody Energy Australia has been working with the bargaining representatives at the Metropolitan mine in an attempt to negotiate a new Enterprise Agreement which reflects current market conditions, lifts productivity, reduces costs, enhances safety and provides greater job security for Metropolitan mine employees,” the spokesperson said.
“We are disappointed that the workforce has decided to take industrial action.
“We remain committed to continuing discussions with the bargaining representatives and workforce. During this period of industrial action, Peabody expects to continue to ship coal from available stockpiles.”
