Up
to a thousand EPMU Solid Energy miners are entering their third week
of industrial action as the stand-off over negotiations over
multi-employer collective agreement.
These
agreements have expired some months ago and the miners have clearly
had enough.
The
four mines involved in the dispute are Huntly’s Rotowaro and Huntly
East mines, Stockton mine near Westport, and the Spring Creek mine
near Greymouth.
The
dispute started when Huntly’s 120 Rotowaro open-cast mine workers
were locked out as contract negotiations failed with their employer,
Australia’s HWE Mining, which operates the mine for Solid Energy.
Solidarity
The
dispute quickly became nationwide as solidarity action by miners
spread through-out the entire coalfield with a 100 strikers joining
at Huntley East underground mine, 500 strikers at the Stockton mine
near Westport and the rest from the Spring Creek mine near Greymouth
The
dispute heated up this week when the company attempted to blame the
situation on the union, publishing divisive advertisements in West
Coast newspapers.
EPMU
assistant national secretary Ged O’Connell says the company’s
attempts to blame the union are absurd.
"We’re
a democratic union and the action members are taking is what they
have collectively agreed to take. The company needs to realise
this strike action is the result of their behaviour towards their
workers and all of their workers will stand up together to fight it."
CEO
Pay
Interestingly
enough Don Elder, CEO of Solid Energy, earned a reportedly obscene
$1.27 million last year. No doubt when Don Elder goes on about
increased productivity and profits he probably means intensifying the
‘sweated labour’ of miners.
This
dispute exposes the market orientated approach to State Owned
Enterprises (SOE), who see nothing wrong in allowing contractors to
run the country’s mines, in an attempt to maximise profits for the
governemt and giving fat pay cheques to the management.
Socialist
Appeal says:
-
Support
striking miners -
Support
EPMU to renegiotiate multi-employer collective agreements -
Kick
the contractors out! -
For
workers control and management of Solid Energy