Oaky North mine workers' protest ramps up

Tools remain down at Oaky North Coal Mine, as workers continue their protest against Glencore work conditions

Workers from the Oaky Creek Coal Mine are again on strike.

TOOLS remain down at Oaky North Coal Mine, as workers continue their protest against Glencore work conditions.

CFMEU mining and energy division district vice president Chris Brodsky said the mining company's proposed enterprise agreement would remove workers' access to workplace representation, in some cases, among a range of other issues.

"This affects hundreds of workers in our community and thousands of their family members,” Mr Brodsky said.

"Glencore's position would deny employees fair and reasonable representation and set a dangerous precedent for pay and conditions across the mining sector.”

Mr Brodsky said the work stoppages would continue this week until the Glencore took "a more productive and cooperative approach to negotiations”.

"Workers have dug in now. We will stand firm and will not be bullied by this big corporation.”

"It's time the company agreed to provide workers with the basic conditions and entitlements being sought by the union.”

However, Glencore rejects the claims made publicly by the CFMEU over the proposed 2017 Enterprise Agreement (EA).

A spokesperson for the company said they were continuing to negotiate with the CFMEU on a new Enterprise Agreement at the Oaky North Coal Mine.

"Our Oaky North employees are very well remunerated, as well as receiving generous subsidies for accommodation arrangements,” a company statement read.

"The proposed changes to the EA are consistent with our stated aim of achieving a modern and flexible enterprise agreement for Oaky North that allows us to manage the operation safely, efficiently and productively in a period of continued challenge for all Australian coal operations.

"The proposed changes are consistent with those agreed by the CFMEU in other Enterprise Agreements across Australian coal mines.”

Originally published as Oaky North mine workers' protest ramps up