Australia Faces More Protest Actions from Coal Miners
Australia faces potential revenue stream going down the drain again as workers for another coal miner based in central Queensland state goes on strike effective Monday next week.
Between June 18 and 24, workers of Wesfarmers' Curragh operations near Blackwater, west of Rockhampton, after the breakdown of a 10-month negotiation over pay and conditions, will conduct rolling stoppages across different shifts at the site, the AAP news agency reported.
Workers of the company, through the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), said Wesfarmers had failed to give their demands, with the company even employing tactics to deny their right to stage industrial action.
Wesfarmers, according to the workers, in the 10 months of negotiation for a new agreement, allegedly wants to use a sign-on wage increase to bait workers to forgo key labor entitlements.
"The company offered sign-on bonuses for an offer that makes taking any protected industrial action in the future illegal," Stephen Smyth, president of CFMEU, said in a statement.
Workers likewise alleged housing for full-time workers at Blackwater has yet to materialize.
Meanwhile, Wesfarmers said the scheduled industrial action of its workers next week will be illegal, based on an expired agreement.
But Smyth said Wesfarmers' pronouncements have been categorically denied by Fair Work Australia.