At present, the employment of casuals under the award is restricted to the classification of staff employees. 

The Australian Industry Group took its fight to the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission, however, its move to extend casualisation of all employees in Australia’s black coal industry was defeated. 

Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union general secretary Andrew Vickers said the decision helped “hold the line against the employers’ drive to further casualise our coal industry”.

“That we were able to defeat the employers on this occasion is a credit to the quality of the case mounted by our legal team with Andrew Thomas playing a particularly strong role,” he said.

Vickers said the union would not rest on its laurels on the issue of casualisation of the industry.

“We know the employers will regroup and mount further challenges to our security of employment,” he said. 

“We know they will try and attack the award that underpins our basic and hard won entitlements and conditions. But one thing that our membership can be sure of is that our union will fight the employers attacks every inch of the way to protect our jobs, conditions and rights at work.”

AI Group head of national workplace relations Stephen Smith told Australia’s Mining Monthly the FWC decision not to extend casual employment provisions in the Black Coal Mining Award to production and engineering employees at this stage was “disappointing”. 

“However, the CFMEU fails to set out the facts of this matter,” he said.

“The facts are a large proportion of employers and employees in the black coal mining industry are covered under enterprise agreements and therefore the Award does not apply to them.

“Casual employment provisions for production and engineering employees are common in enterprise agreements in the black coal mining industry, including in agreements that the CFMEU has negotiated.

“In the Casual Employment Case, AI Group identified 40 enterprise agreements in the black coal mining industry that included casual employment provisions for production and engineering employees – 31 of which covered the CFMEU.”

Smith said in its casual employment decision, the FWC said “the introduction of a casual employment provision in the Black Coal Award for production and engineering employees has merit as a matter of broad principle”.

“However, the FWC said that more evidence is needed on what restrictions or qualifications are appropriate for casual provisions in the Award given the nature of the black coal mining industry,” he said.

“The FWC has invited employer representatives to make a further application for casual provisions to be included in the Award, supported by evidence addressing the issues that the FWC has raised.”