Who needs fair weather friends when you’ve got employers like Yancoal?
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The Chinese miner has hit tough times and needs to cut 225 jobs between its Maitland and Paxton pits.
The decision has rightly drawn criticism from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union.
The workers, according to the CFMEU, have worked hard and contributed to sizeable profits in the not-too-distant past. The same workers doubled down when they lost workmates Jamie Mitchell and Phillip Grant in last year’s mine wall collapse at Austar, Paxton.
“Yancoal didn’t mind reaping the benefits when the going was good, but they’re pretty quick to kick these guys in the guts now,” CFMEU northern district president Peter Jordan said.
Abel will shed 170 of those 225 positions, and Austar 55.
The CFMEU received word late Thursday night and the news was passed on to workers the next day.
In another blow, Yancoal then refused to talk about redundancy packages on Friday. Instead, employees were left to stew on the news over the weekend.
They won’t have any idea about who stays and who goes until Tuesday.
The future of Abel is more uncertain than ever.
Production has been cut to five days and only 108 people will remain.
The CFMEU believes this cut means Abel is flirting with closure.
“You can only take it back one step after [this round of cuts] and that’s care and maintenance,” Mr Grant said.
“That’s how close they are to closing it.”
The story is but another chapter in a sorrowful book for modern industrial relations.
We should not forget that these people are profit drivers, not liabilities.
They are, above all, the heart and soul of these organisations – but these it seems profits come before all else.