BY LINDA HARRIS AND BOB AIKEN
SYDNEY, Australia - Coal bosses in Australia have reacted
to the sharpening economic crisis in Asia by cutting their
selling price and increasing production while laying off
thousands of miners and attacking the miners' union. They have
targeted seniority rights as central to their drive against
the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU).
Rio Tinto has spearheaded this attack. On October 20 last year, they retrenched 115 miners without regard to seniority at their Hunter Valley No. 1 mine, 150 miles north of Sydney. Miners there attracted national attention in 1997 with a successful strike to block Rio Tinto's union-busting attempt to impose individual contracts.
The sacked miners are maintaining a 24-hour informational picket line near the entrance to the mine. The CFMEU has filed an unfair dismissal case on their behalf.
These reporters visited the picket line January 20 and spoke with four of the sacked miners. Grahame Horne, who had worked at the mine for 19 years, said, "We are protesting the elimination process the company took." He explained that as well as sacking 30 out of the 32 union delegates, the whole health and safety committee had been laid off. The company had also got rid of anyone with a disability. There are now only 112 miners left working there.
Rio Tinto announced intented lay-offs for February 1998 and then started carrying out individual work performance reviews at the mine. "They were a joke." said Horne. "Anyone who had the gift of organizing or who spoke up, they got rid of." Horne said the aim of the court case is to get their jobs back, but even if they win, they expect the company will refuse to take them back. Already they are being black listed as they try to find other work.
Bram Berney, a miner from Rio Tinto's nearby Howick mine, also spent a few hours describing what miners are facing in the Hunter Valley. The CFMEU estimates more than 3,000 coal miners' jobs nationally have been lost in the past year. Bengalla, a new mine in the Hunter Valley, has just opened, hiring miners on individual contracts and not giving first option to retrenched miners. The manager claimed it to be a nonunion mine, but Berney said many of the miners have joined the union and will fight for a union contract when their agreements run out.
The seniority system in place since 1902 in the coal mining industry award (the national agreement setting out conditions across the industry) was wiped out by the Industrial Relations Commission in May, following the introduction of antiunion legislation by the federal government.
The layoff at Hunter Valley No. 1 mine "was the first time they have been able to cut across seniority," Horne said. He thought seniority was the most important issue facing the union. While many miners have visited the picket line in solidarity, no industrial action has taken place to support them or in defense of seniority.
In December CFMEU officials did call a two-day national strike by 15,000 coal miners - to protest Australian coal bosses accepting an 18 percent cut in export prices for the Japanese market. This is part of the union officialdom's nationalist, "Australia First" campaign calling for regulation of coal exports "to protect Australian workers and the national interest."
Rio Tinto has tried to maintain levels of production but not of maintenance or safety, miners said. "They're cutting corners all the time, they've been very lucky no one has been killed or seriously hurt," Horne said. The bosses continue to hold work performance reviews as a the threat over the remaining workers' heads.
Miners at the Hunter Valley said another fight was taking place at Chain Valley Colliery, 60 miles northeast of Sydney. The 42 miners at the Chain Valley Colliery have been on strike since November 19, fighting deep attacks on wages and conditions.
Barry Marshall, one of the striking miners on picket duty, explained the company's demands. They wanted staff to do incidental work, introduce individual work assessments, replace sick pay with attendance bonuses, introduce a seven- day roster, cut seniority on shifts, and prohibit union meetings during work hours or at the mine. On top of this, the company wanted a pay cut from A$680 per week to A$565 (A$1=US$0.65) with little chance of overtime or production bonuses.
The new owners of the mine issued redundancy notices January 18, giving one month's notice of their intention to close the pit down. Marshall said the mine could well reopen in a year or two with new management, but without seniority the unionists don't think they will get their jobs back.
They are fighting to get their redundancy based on the award rate instead of the $565 a week the company has proposed. About 150 supporters, including other miners from Hunter Valley and Newcastle wharfies, rallied at the picket line on January 14.
Linda Harris and Bob Aiken are members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union in Sydney.