Union officials met with Coal and Allied management today, over the sacking of 30 full-time maintenance workers from its Hunter Valley Operations mine.
The CFMEU argues the company has no plans to reduce production levels.
It expects contractors will be used as a cheaper alternative.
A spokesperson for Coal and Allied owner, Rio Tinto, says it’s working to make its operations more competitive, in the face of challenging economic conditions.
Not only is Coal & Allied sacking full time workers, it is forcing it’s contract operators to accept major pay cuts as well. These contractors are already receiving far less in wages than their full time counterparts as well as no sick leave or holiday pay yet performing the same duties and working the same hours as fulltime employees.
The CMFEU are right to think that Coal & Allied is working towards a contractor workforce. this is substantiated by the number of new contractors being employed and trained across both Hunter Valley Operations and Mt Thorley Warkworth sites.
Coal and Allied would be better off sacking most of the management as it is them that are dragging the company down. Dangerous and incompetent with no practical experience that are parachuted into management positions dreaming up useless and inane ideas and procedures that benefit no one and only drains company profits.