Mt Arthur Permanent Employees Relieved

BHP Billiton announced yesterday afternoon that it will give 100 voluntary redundancies to employees at its Mount Arthur coal mine, following negotiations with the Union.

Last month the Company announced it would cut 290 jobs at the mine site and in the course of negotiations revealed they needed to make 91 permanent employees redundant.

Peter Jordan, district president of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) said there would be a lot of relieved employees at Mount Arthur knowing they are not going to get a tap on the shoulder.

“What came of today’s meeting is confirmation that there will be no forced redundancies, that’s important and that’s been confirmed,” said Mr Jordan.

“It is a bit of a surprise because the Company has accepted redundancies from very senior employees that is going to cost them some money; there are some employees there with 30 to 40 years service,” he said.

“The Company really only needed 91 redundancies, because they got 100 volunteers rather than select which ones were going to miss out on it, they chose to let all 100 go.

“There are no forced redundancies that is the important part of today’s meeting, it’s not good news we are losing 100 permanent employees from the workforce, but it was important that we were able to secure volunteers rather than force redundancies,” Peter Jordan said.

The Union said they will be meeting with the Company next week to progress the redundancies and expect things to be finalised within a matter of weeks.

There were 387 expressions of interest for the voluntary redundancies of those 105 proceeded to formal application and 100 were given.

The Union said the company only needed to give 91 ad the Company indicated a small number of positions were not suitable for redundancy.

Of the 100 redundancies 82 will be in production and 18 in engineering.

So the Company rather than selecting 9 people to miss out have indicated they would accept all 100.

The Company really only needed 91 redundancies, because they got 100 volunteers rather than select which ones were going to miss out on it, they chose to let all 100 go.

There were 260 expressions of interest voluntary redundancies, with only 100 proceeding for formal application.

Move to a Casual Workforce

The Union said they would be very disappointed if the redundancies were the first step towards a 40 percent casual workforce.

“I think the Company want to run the mine on 60% permanent and 40% contractors and if that is the case that would be disappointing, but today I think it is important to know that we have been able to get through a difficult period without forced redundancies,” said Mr Jordan.

“This is the initial step and I think how they will bring the ratio about if they do would be by natural attrition and as I say that will be disappointing if that is the case, because 40% of a large workforce as casual contractors is disappointing for both the local mining community and those people themselves, because you can’t have a future working as a casual contractor for your mining life, we’ve seen that with Rio; people are still casual contractors 6, 7, 8 years later,” he said.

“Young people trying to get on in life, buy a house, it’s pretty hard for them to go and make those commitments when they are really spending years and years as casual in the workplace.

“At the end of the day they are generally the first place to go and if you commit yourself to a mortgage then you are always on tenterhooks as to whether your job is still there tomorrow,” Peter Jordan said.

Dartbrook and Mt Pleasant

News of the Dartbrook mine recommencing underground operations and Mt Pleasant beginning operations by the end of the year was welcomed by the Union.

“The underground mining sector in the district has been dramatically affected over the last couple of years, we’ve got West Wallsend closing in July, we’ve already had Ravensworth Underground close, Glennies Creek underground close and from an underground perspective those retrenched mine workers have found it very difficult to secure employment, so when we hear the news about Dartbrook, albeit a bord an pillar mine instead of a longwall mine, looks like starting up and as early as the end of the year, then to me that is good news for not only those mine workers, but the local community of Muswellbrook and surrounds,” said Mr Jordan.

“Mt Pleasant again, given the loss of Drayton if towards the end of the year if we can get Mt Pleasant firing then look again a great shot in the arm for the local community and mine workers in general,” he said.

“So we are very supportive of those two companies getting those two mines up and running,” Peter Jordan said.

Related Articles:

• Mount Arthur Still Hiring, April 11, 2016.
• Union Hopes Company Fairdinkum, March 23, 2016.
• Mt Arthur Negotiations, March 17, 2016.
• Mt Arthur Management Responds, March 14, 2016.
• Workers Feel Duped, March 14, 2016.
• Productive Negotiations, March 9, 2016.
• Mt Arthur Cuts 290 Jobs, March 9, 2016.