'100% casualised, underpaid, stood over'
Wongawilli miners vote for industrial action to improve conditions
Mineworkers at Wongawilli Colliery have voted to take industrial action in early 2019 to improve substandard working conditions at the mine.
Use of casual labour hire in the mining industry is out of control, said CFMEU Mining and Energy South Western District Vice President Bob Timbs.
But there is no more extreme example than Wongawilli Colliery. The mine operators Wollongong Coal, owned by India's Jindal Steel, have outsourced the entire production and engineering workforce to contractors CAS Mining.
"The Wongawilli workforce of nearly 100 mineworkers is 100% casualised, with the lowest pay rates in the district," said Mr Timbs.
"CAS Mining employees are trying to negotiate an enterprise agreement with better pay and industry standard conditions to bring them in line with other mines in the district."
The arrangement between CAS Mining and Jindal Steel's Wollongong Coal exposes the rort surrounding the use of labour hire in the industry, says Mr Timbs.
"Wollongong Coal holds the purse strings and CAS has to run everything by them, down to what clauses they can have in their agreement. If CAS is genuinely the employer, they should be able to negotiate it themselves."
Despite being employed as casuals who do not receive annul leave and sick pay, Wongawilli mineworkers have to fill in a form to take annual leave and are often knocked back and have to provide a medical certificate if they take a sick day. If workers take too many sick days, they are sacked.
"These workers are casual, underpaid, stood over and have zero rights," said Mr Timbs.
"They are hundreds of dollars a week worse off than permanent workers in surrounding mines.
"Our aim is to get them a decent pay rate and industry standard conditions like accident pay, annual leave and sick leave – it's nothing out of the ordinary, it's just what others have and they deserve.
"This is classic exploitation of local workers by a mining multinational. Wongawilli is a perfect example of why we need to change the rules to protect workers."
