Glencore employees across the Hunter will again walk off the job for 48 hours on Sunday.
They’re pushing for job security, concerned over the company’s growing preference for casual employees.
The CFMEU says half the workers at Glencore’s Bulga and Ravensworth open cut mines are on casual contracts, and that the company’s redundancy payment is the lowest in the industry.
It follows strike action taken by union members last month.
A spokesperson for Glencore says union members and the public are being misled with false claims, particularly in relation to the use of contractors.
And, that 34 percent of Hunter workers are contractors.
A stop work meeting will be held at Singleton Showground on Monday.
(VISION ONLY)
Full statement from Glencore:
It is disappointing that the CFMEU continues to choose confrontation ahead of consultation over new Enterprise Agreements at a number of our Hunter coal operations.
It is equally disappointing that union members and the public are being misled with false claims, particularly in relation to the use of contractors at our sites and the employment relationship at the Integra underground mine.
In an industry that reacts sharply to changes in market dynamics, we use contract and casual labour to provide flexibility in responding to these changes.
Contrary to CFMEU claims, at the five Open Cut mines we employ 2580 people of which 889 or 34% are either contractors, supplementary labour or casuals.
All the workers employed by WorkPac at Integra are fulltime, fixed term, non-casual positions with significant numbers of these people coming from other Glencore mines such as Bulga UG, Ravensworth UG, West Wallsend, Tahmoor and Oaky Creek.
It should also be noted that people from recently-closed underground mines have secured opportunities to be trained at our open cut mines and that many of the current permanent employees gained a start in the industry as a contractor.
The CFMEU District Office is saying that Monday’s meeting is to seek direction from the mine site workers. The feedback from our mine sites is that this is a campaign directed by the District Office.
