Community members, relatives and union officials gathered outside Donaldson Abel Mine near Newcastle on Friday to protest against new Yancoal agreements that affect employee entitlements.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Yancoal Mining Services has been established as a subsidiary of Yancoal and affected employees must sign new agreements with to keep their jobs.
A Collieries’ Staff and Officials Association spokeswoman said that 180 workers across the Donaldson Abel, Ashton (near Singleton), and Austar (near Cessnock) coal mines were only given a short time to sign contracts that stripped them of much of their existing redundancy entitlements and accrued future sick leave.
“They basically held a loaded gun to their head and said sign this or you won’t have a job,” association senior industry officer Kylie Rooke said.
However, Yancoal spokesperson James Rickards said the company had engaged with staff openly and transparently about the proposed changes.
Yancoal employees are paid accrued sick leave upon resignation, but the new contracts will prevent future sick leave being paid out.
Mr Rickards said these sick leave conditions were excessive and outdated, and changing the conditions was necessary to establish a fair, modern and equitable workplace agreement for staff.
Employees also accrue three weeks per year of service in the event of redundancy, but the association said the new agreements would cap redundancy accrual after nine years of service if a proposed variation to the Black Coal Mining Industry Award was approved.
The variation was put forward by the Coal Mining Industry Employer Group, of which Yancoal is a participant.
Mr Rickards said Yancoal’s redundancy entitlements reflected the Black Coal Mining Industry Award, and that the association had misrepresented redundancy information to staff.
“The union has the available facts and appears committed to ignoring them publicly in the desperate hope of attempting to remain relevant in a modern workplace environment,” he said.
Ms Rooke said the association was not fighting for anything additional for employees, but to maintain their current entitlements.
“We’re calling on Yancoal to do the right thing,” Ms Rooke said.
“What we’re asking is for them to lock in what workers currently get.
“Don’t leave them hanging out to dry.”
