BY LINDA HARRIS
SYDNEY, Australia - Members of the Construction,
Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) have been
maintaining a 24-hour picket line at the Gordonstone mine in
central Queensland since October 2. The Gordonstone
colliery, Australia's biggest underground coal mine, is
owned by U.S. company ARCO.
On October 1 ARCO gave out retrenchment (permanent layoff) notices to all 312 workers at the mine. The sackings followed a decision by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) on September 30 to reject an application by the CFMEU seeking to prevent the mine's closure. ARCO wants to restart operations with 190 hand-picked employees on individual contracts.
The CFMEU filed 268 unfair dismissal cases in the AIRC on October 21; hearings on these cases are continuing. The CFMEU is seeking an order that if anyone is to be hired to work at the mine they must be recruited from among those who have been sacked. At an October 2 meeting, 500 miners and supporters voted to fight the sackings. "We are not going to take this lying down," said Jim Lambley, district vice president of the CFMEU. Miners are getting support from unionists at other mines.
The company has taken an aggressive approach towards the workers. Miners renting company-owned houses were told to agree to a five-fold rent increase or get out within 30 days. Management is also attempting to reclaim houses that were being bought by miners under a company plan.
ARCO flew in 70 armed security guards from Brisbane to block the mine entrances and patrol streets in the nearby mining town of Emerald. The security guards have been tailing and photographing mine workers, to intimidate union members and their families. Queensland's Conservative state deputy premier Joan Sheldon backed ARCO's decision to employ security guards in the town. "If the workforce is getting to the stage of being violent then the mining company has every right to look after its own assets," she declared. ARCO, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, is determined to change work practices at its mines and break the union's capacity to negotiate collectively. All of its U.S. coal operations are nonunion. At the Gordonstone mine, ARCO has consistently tried to block union activity, threatening disciplinary action against union delegates and denying approval for stopwork meetings. In March CFMEU officials were banned from visiting the mine.
This fight is emerging as another test case for the federal government's new industrial relations legislation. CFMEU national president John Maitland explained, "There is a pattern of confrontation in the coal industry being led by Rio Tinto in the Hunter Valley and ARCO in Queensland. Significant damage is going to be done to several communities. It will place a question mark over the legitimacy and effectiveness of the [new Industrial Relations] Act."
Miners, other unionists and supporters marched through the streets of Emerald on November 1 protesting ARCO's latest decision to restart operations within the next two months.
Linda Harris is a member of the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union in Sydney.