Clive Palmer’s nickel workers desperate for silver bullet

A union boss was last night fighting for 776 workers at Clive Palmer’s nickel refinery — to keep their jobs and their dignity.

7/12/2015: Cowboy Stockham, the union representative for the workers at the troubled Queensland Nickel refinery, complete with trucks painted in Palmer's favorite yellow, at Yabulu, just north of Townsville, QLD. Cowboy is the North QLD AWU secretary, and is deeply concerned about the future for the workers, as Clive Palmer continues to link the plants future to disputed payments from the Chinese owned Citic Pacific. Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

Cowboy Stockham hasn’t slept properly for a week and faces many sleepless nights ahead. The Townsville union boss was last night fighting for 776 workers at the struggling north Queensland city’s largest private employer — Clive Palmer’s nickel refinery — to keep their jobs, their livelihoods and their dignity.

A West Australian judge last night denied Mr Palmer’s last-ditch grab for Chinese cash to prop up his ailing empire, forcing Queensland Nickel’s Yabulu ­refinery to the brink of shutting down, sacking its staff and calling in administrators.

“It’s really devastating,” grazier and former rodeo rider Mr Stockham, the Australian Workers Union’s northern district secretary, told The Australian in Townsville last night.

“We’re all hoping for a silver bullet at any cost so the place stays open. We don’t want to see the collateral damage if administrators are called in, or if the refinery is shut down.

“It’s Christmas time. How many kids aren’t going to get presents this year? How many holidays are getting cancelled?”

For Townsville — left punch-drunk by high unemployment, the biting drought and the mining downturn — the loss of the ­refinery would be one blow too many.

The Yabulu operation injects $1.3 billion into the local economy each year, employs nearly 800 workers at the plant, and indirectly provides jobs for hundreds more at Townsville’s port.

“We can’t afford to lose one of the biggest employers in the ­region,” Mayor Jenny Hill said last night, after flying to Brisbane for crisis meetings with Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt on Thursday.

“We want to ensure the jobs here are safe, that’s all I’m concerned about. One way or another, we need certainty, our community needs certainty.”

The fate of the refinery is the talk of Townsville.

Unemployment is estimated to be 9 per cent in the city — well above the national average. If nearly 800 workers are sacked from the refinery, they will struggle to find jobs in the city, forcing families to leave town.

Many have been employed at the plant for decades, well before Mr Palmer bought the Yabulu ­refinery from BHP in 2009.

The AWU’s Mr Stockham wrote to senior management last week, seeking an undertaking that long-serving employees’ entitlements would be honoured, should the worst occur. No such promises have been made, but local newspaper The Townsville Bulletin reported the union would meet with the company this morning.

It’s a vastly different situation from the 2010 festive season, when Mr Palmer flaunted his largesse at the Yabulu plant and spent $10m to give long-serving refinery workers Christmas bonuses of Mercedes-Benz cars and overseas holidays.

Staff are too frightened about losing their jobs to speak publicly, but there is anger among some employees at Mr Palmer taking money from Queensland Nickel to fund his political party. The Australian revealed earlier this year that $6m had been poured from the refinery into the Palmer United Party in Queensland last financial year alone. And some locals fear Mr Palmer is using the refinery as a pawn in his separate, long-running court battle with his estranged Chinese business partners.

Kevin Gill, chair of Townsville Enterprise, the region’s peak economic development and tourism body, said the timing was terrible.

“We’ve been advocating that no stone be left unturned (to save jobs),” Mr Gill said.

“We understand there might be concern at a (taxpayer-funded bailout) but all parties need to be collaborating to find a solution.”

The Australian understands the state government is in regular talks with Queensland Nickel and is considering several options. A cash bailout is considered unlikely and Mr Palmer has stated he would never accept a government loan. Other possibilities include a temporary holiday from state levies such as payroll tax and infrastructure charges.

Mr Pitt’s office declined to comment last night. Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison has also been briefed about the troubles at Yabulu.

Ewen Jones, the Townsville-based federal LNP MP for Herbert, said the fortunes of the “punch drunk” city and its workers were closely tied to that of the refinery.

“This is the perfect job in the metal industry — you can live and work in Townsville and be with your family every night,” Mr Jones said.

“Some of those blokes have worked there for 40 years. People have based their whole lives and careers out there. (Closure) would be devastating.”