Bosses cave in as Labor and CFMEU join forces

The CFMEU has kicked off a federal election year with a significant victory, delivering a boost to the ACTU’s national campaign against the “rip-off” of labour hire workers.

The union’s offensive was well-timed, with the strike in the quiet summer news cycle elevating its prominence and putting additional pressure on Wollongong Coal and labour hire company CAS Mining to reach a quick settlement.

CAS Mining, a small operation supplying 100 workers to the Wongawilli Colliery, suddenly found itself at the sharp end of a national political contest over the use of labour hire, and its engagement of an entire workforce as casuals left it exposed legally and politically.

CAS insisted its hands were tied and the firm could meet the CFMEU claims for higher pay rates and improved entitlements only if it received extra funding from Wollongong Coal.

And that’s exactly what happened, with Wollongong Coal executives handing over money that will see workers go from the lowest paid casuals in the region to permanent workers on pay and conditions similar to union members in nearby mines.

CFMEU officials estimated the CAS workers were receiving $300 a week less than permanent employees doing similar work in nearby mines. As casuals, they received no paid annual leave, with many workers reporting they had taken little time off in recent years.

With the election months away, they were shaping as a poster boy for federal Labor’s push to rewrite labour hire laws. At last year’s ACTU Congress, Bill Shorten announced an ALP government would crack down on “dodgy labour hire companies” and warned that companies would risk legal action if labour hire workers received lower pay and conditions than directly employed co-workers doing the same job.

The Wollongong Coal dispute played to the ALP narrative and federal and state Labor MPs visited the colliery picket this week to highlight the unfair treatment of the CAS workers.

It is not hard to see why the employers caved in.