‘BRINGING in industrial mercenaries shows just how little Anglo cares about their existing workforce,’ CFMEU (Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union) Queensland District President, Stephen Smyth said on Monday.
Anglo American has escalated the situation at their German Creek mine by advertising for a new workforce while existing employees conduct legal and protected industrial action. One-hundred-and-forty miners have been on strike since Monday last week at the German Creek Coal Mine, an underground mine 25 kilometres south west of Middlemount in Central Queensland, Australia.
Now the mining giant has engaged labour hire company WorkPac to advertise for Excavator Operators to replace the striking workers, with the firm resorting to cold-calling known coalmine workers and offering them a sweetheart deal better than those offered to existing employees.
Under the offer, the new contract workers are being offered $60 per hour, plus an extra $2 per hour back paid if they stay on for three months, along with free accommodation and meals. ‘It’s not right that workers can take legal and protected action to fight for better pay and improved conditions, then get replaced by industrial mercenaries,’ Smyth said.
‘Anglo is offering a better deal to these new industrial mercenaries than they are willing to offer to their own employees. That just isn’t fair. If Anglo have the money to pay inflated wages to strike-breakers, then they should come back to the table and negotiate in good faith to support their existing employees instead of sneaking around behind closed doors and using a labour hire company to employ a shadow workforce.
‘These are outsiders being brought in to take away jobs from local workers. Anglo is taking money away from Middlemount families and that will hurt the community.’ CFMEU mining and energy division Queensland district vice president Glenn Power said: ‘It is clear the company has no intention of negotiating in good faith, but is simply using delay tactics to avoid ever coming to a fair agreement.
‘There are some really basic things Anglo are objecting to – for example we are trying to get the company to comply with safety and health regulations and to get some basic commitments on job security for workers.’ The workers voted nine-to-one in favour of industrial action.
The CFMEU demands are:
• Removal of a casual clause to ensure secure, steady jobs for workers and to stop the casualisation of the permanent workforce.
• A fair and transparent process for worker redundancy.
• Inclusion of coal industry standard for accident pay.
• Compliance with Coal Mining Safety and Health Act and Regulations regarding physical and psychological impairment, which has been a requirement since 2001. (Anglo is currently using the Enterprise Agreement as an industrial tool to terminate employees suffering from work-related and non-work injuries).
• A transparent process allowing for FWC (Fair Work Commission) arbitration on unresolved disputes through the Disputes Resolution Procedure.
• Maintenance of current rates of remuneration (employees have already suffered a huge reduction in income with roster changes implemented last year.
Meanwhile, the Federal Court has ordered more than $1,272,109 in damages and compensation, and $24,600 more in interest payments, be paid to a Hail Creek coalminer victimised and stood down by Rio Tinto – an amount nearly unprecedented in workplace disputes.
Michael Haylett injured his neck while driving a bulldozer in 2010; an injury that Rio Tinto admitted was caused by the company’s negligence. Haylett continued to work at the mine for three years, and it was not until the Queensland District Court awarded him $630,000 in November 2013 as compensation for his injuries did Rio Tinto stand him down.
The case, run by the CFMEU and Hall Payne Lawyers, was described by the union’s Queensland District President, Smyth, as a David and Goliath battle against a mining giant. CFMEU Queensland District President Smyth commented: ‘This has been a long and hard fought case.
‘Michael Haylett is finally getting justice after three years of fighting one of the world’s biggest mining companies for his unfair sacking. While the payment of $1.3 million in damages and back pay will go some way to compensating Mr Haylett for the pain, suffering, and poor treatment he’s endured over the years, it shouldn’t have to be necessary.
‘This was a vendetta against Michael Haylett that Rio Tinto has been running for years.
‘The way the company acted in this matter, beginning with the heavy-handed and illegal sacking of a worker, to ignoring a Supreme Court order, is completely unacceptable and the additional penalty of $50,000 ordered against them reflects just how appalling the treatment was.
‘Mr Haylett was injured at work, and then sacked through no fault of his own – these three years of legal proceedings have been difficult for Michael, but today is his victory. Finally, Rio Tinto will be held to account for their behaviour.’
Smyth said that the case showed that workers aren’t alone and can stand up to improper and illegal treatment in the workplace. The Federal Court found that Rio Tinto’s decision to stand down Mr Haylett was done in retaliation for him winning his damages claim, and was in breach of the Fair Work Act. Justice Reeves highlighted the lack of remorse that the company had for their actions as a major factor in his decision,’ Smyth added.
Solicitors from Hall Payne Lawyers said that they had seldom seen worse treatment of an employee by a company, with Rio Tinto’s defiance of Supreme Court orders and arrogance nearly unprecedented.
• An Australian Council of Trade Union (actu) commissioned survey of 500 young Australians aged between 18 to 24 in a range of industries found widespread dissatisfaction. The young workers said they feel mistreated by their bosses, including being underpaid, undertrained and at times abused.
Ged Kearney, president of the ACTU, said the results from the commissioned survey were ‘disturbing’, with their findings telling them that the majority of people reported being poorly treated by their managers. More than 50 per cent of respondents said they were not getting paid the right amount, and 56 per cent said they were not receiving the right training at work. ‘They’re concerned about their working conditions, they can’t get regular work and therefore regular income,’ Kearney said.
‘A third of them are worried that they’re not being paid enough superannuation by their bosses, they worry about a lack of career progression, they have rostering issues. What we’re seeing here is a very serious picture of young people at work who are feeling insecure, that are not feeling empowered and they don’t feel that they are actually making a difference for themselves and their careers. In the long run they will suffer, the communities will suffer and the economy will suffer.’
Kearney said there are a number of changes needed in the form of legislative and regulatory monitoring, as well as education. We need to make sure that we do things like reinvest the $1 billion that’s been taken out of apprenticeships, to make sure young people are getting skills and training on the job.’
From the viewpoint of the trade union, Kearney said they felt there was an issue of young people entering the workforce without the knowledge that ‘we may stand up as a collective. When they approach an employer as a group, whether that’s through their union or not, they have a lot more power,’ she said.
‘These young ones are looking at these problems from their individual perspective, they’re worried, they’re frightened to speak up, they don’t know how to approach their boss.’
Kearney said in the study 80 per cent of the respondents said that they would value support in the workplace to help them speak up when they felt they were being treated unfairly.