Glencore has this morning notified workers at Ulan Underground coal mine near Mudgee of a second seven-day lockout beginning immediately.
Mining and Energy Union members at Ulan were preparing to return to work this morning after seven days of being locked out by their employer when they were notified within an hour of start time that the lockout had been extended and no work would be accepted.
The Mining and Energy Union says this is a clear sign that enterprise bargaining has become intractable, and Glencore must now support intervention from the workplace umpire for a resolution.
Workers at Ulan Underground are seeking pay-parity with miners at the nearby Ulan West mine, who are paid considerably more despite both mines being less than two kilometres apart and both owned by Glencore.
Last week, the MEU made an intractable bargaining application to the Fair Work Commission, with a first listing next Thursday 16th October. If an intractable bargaining declaration is made by the FWC, it would trigger a process of arbitration to settle the terms of a new Enterprise Agreement.
MEU South West District President Bob Timbs said that the latest lockout notification proved that the dispute could no longer be settled between the two parties, and independent arbitration is required.
"A second lengthy lockout by the employer is a clear sign that Glencore is unwilling to concede their position. We have been bargaining for more than a year and a half, and taking industrial action for over three months, and we are now at a damaging impasse" Timbs said.
"We are well past the point where progress is being made at the bargaining table, with Glencore instead adopting a 'take-it-or-leave-it' position. With the miners unwilling to concede their very reasonable demands, we are now at a point where this dispute is having significant effects on the livelihoods of the workers and operations of the mine in exchange for very little movement.
It's time to let the independent umpire deal with this and get people back to work."
Glencore is required to respond by supporting or opposing the MEU's intractable bargaining order next week.
If the Fair Work Commission issues an Intractable Bargaining Declaration industrial action and employer response action will cease, and a conciliation period will be set. Following the conciliation the Fair Work Commission will then arbitrate any clauses where an agreement could not be reached.
This would be the first Intractable Bargaining Declaration in the mining industry since the laws were introduced as part of the Secure Jobs, Better Pay amendment to the Fair Work Act in 2022.
