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Employees working at South32 Appin Mine have halted work for seven days after receiving an industrial agreement that failed to include fair rostering, public holidays, or fair pay.
It’s reported that these strikes will have a major impact on the operations at the mine. Collieries’ Staff and Officials Association (CSOA) lead organiser Belinda Giblin said the workers were tired of the employer leaving key conditions out of the workplace agreement and feared that South32 could go back on any agreement at any time.
“Mine supervisors at Appin’s South32 coal mine will walk off the job as part of industrial action in response to the company’s failure to offer workers a fair deal on basic conditions, like access to time off on public holidays and access to annual leave at key times of the year such as Christmas and other holiday periods,” said Ms Giblin.
“This is about workers having a reasonable work/life balance where they can spend time with their families, take the kids on holidays, or care for sick relatives. We are simply seeking to have those arrangements – which South32 says they are committed to – brought into the workplace agreement so they are guaranteed and can be enforced.”
The workers will leave the site between 11 August and 18 August; however, they will continue to meet each day at 9am to discuss further steps.
The workers argue that uncertainty with rostering impacts the lives of workers and creates unnecessary stress for their families. The miners are also looking to include bonuses in their contracts as mining profits have increased dramatically in the past year.
“These are all extremely reasonable, common-sense demands, and we will fight for these basic workplace rights,” Ms Giblin explained.
“Record profits and the multimillion-dollar salaries of the CEO and COO show the company can afford to ensure workers see a benefit from their increased productivity.”
The disconnect between leaders’ wages and employees’ compensation has many outraged, adding fuel to the fire.
Ms Giblin continued: “The CEO is on AUD $4.3 million a year, and the chief operations officer makes around AUD $2 million, which is the equivalent of almost half the total salaries of the entire 85-person workforce. These exorbitant salaries are justified on the basis of good outcomes for shareholders.”
“Well, those outcomes come on the back of good planning by workers to keep the development and production pipeline in sync, plus old-fashioned hard work to get the job done. Their work has turned the mine around and made billions for shareholders, and they deserve a reasonable production bonus.”
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Industrial relations is the management and evaluation of the interactions between employers, workers, and representative organisations like unions.
Jack Campbell
Jack is the editor at HR Leader.
