A resources multinational strongly opposed any suggestion it will not increase employee remuneration.
Peabody Energy recently dismissed allegations it withdrew a proposed 2 per cent wage increase after coal workers asked for a better deal at the Metropolitan Coal Mine, 38km north of Wollongong. The proponent maintains it repeatedly tried to increase employee pay without reaching a mutual agreement.
“Peabody has been negotiating in good faith with 18 employees at our coal wash plant for over a year to lock-in increased wages, and to remove archaic clauses that prevent us from operating flexibly in a volatile coal market,” a spokesperson said in a public statement.
“We have participated in 18 bargaining sessions including three facilitated meetings with the Fair Work Commission and conducted two employee votes without a workable outcome.”
The employer promised not to replace permanent positions with labour hire roles.
“We have no motivation to outsource these roles and, in fact, transferred these employees from being external contractors to full-time Peabody employees less than three years ago in 2019,” the spokesperson said.
“The company’s preferred outcome is to reach agreement with our employees and we are committed to ongoing discussions.”
The remarks came after the Mining and Energy Union (MEU) accused the proponent of tearing up an enterprise agreement (EA) before official negotiations ended with the same wash plant workers.
Several employees had complained to MEU about Peabody “aggressively” locking them out from the mine site in July and August 2022, for spending 90 minutes on “protected” industrial action.
Workers demand the same job security provisions afforded to pit workers to be extended to handling and preparation plant team members too. This includes preventing permanent positions from being outsourced to labour hire providers.
“We stand by our comments,” an MEU spokesperson told QMEB.
“Peabody has in-sourced management of the wash plant but they are trying to strip job security provisions, especially a manning clause that specifies numbers of permanent employees on shifts – without this they can simply outsource jobs to labour hire.”
The union hopes a new industrial relations bill will help prevent employers from terminating EAs during the bargaining process.
“Bargaining is still continuing and we believe the company is trying to beat new legislation to prevent employers terminating agreements during bargaining,” the MEU spokesperson said.
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