
Issue No 19		25 June 1999

News

Oakdale Miners Take On Canberra

By Paddy Gorman - CFMEU Miners Division

Hundreds of CFMEU coal mining delegates marched on Parliament House in Canberra this week demanding the Federal Government act to secure the entitlements of every worker in Australia.


	Oakdale Miners March on Parlaiment House in Canberra

The march was sparked by the recent closure of the Oakdale underground coalmine in NSW with 150 employees robbed of $6.3 million in entitlements.

The Howard Government is frantically ducking for cover as public support for the CFMEU campaign grows. The Union finds itself in the novel position of its campaign being supported by Alan Jones, John Laws and the Daily Telegraph, each of who have given thunderous support to the Oakdale miners.

The CFMEU has called on the Federal Government to strike a one-off 10 cent/per tonne levy on coal production to finance an Emergency Fund to ensure that there are no more Oakdales in Australia�s coal industry.

The purpose of the Emergency Fund is to protect the genuine entitlements of mineworkers like those at Oakdale some of whom have spent a lifetime in the pits while others who have young families are desperately paying off mortgages. We should ensure that no one is ever left facing financial ruin because a mine goes belly up through no fault of the workers.

Tony Maher said that the Oakdale miners would have first claim on the Emergency Fund.

Howard has attempted to dismiss the CFMEU�s call for the 10-cent levy as imposing a further unacceptable cost on coal producers. However, the Union argues that the latest average price (1998) for a tonne of Australian coal on the export market was A$58.12. The 10-cents levy the CFMEU is proposing is a drop in the ocean by anyone�s standard. It is 0.02% of the average price of a tonne of coal.

Coal is Australia�s biggest export earner bringing in $10 billion last year alone.

With Australia producing 222 million tonnes of saleable coal last year, the CFMEU�s Emergency Fund would generate $22.2 million, enough to ensure the entitlements of the Oakdale mineworkers. It would also provide protection for those at other smaller operations hovering precariously on the brink of closure as the huge multinational producers like BHP, Rio Tinto and Shell continue to cut coal prices and drive smaller producers to the wall.

The CFMEU's proposal has won the support of Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley who described it as �doable�. The Australian Democrats have also publicly declared their support for the proposal.

However, the CFMEU see this as a short term solution to an immediate problem facing its members in the coal mining industry.

The Union has called for a national scheme to be introduced to protect all workers entitlements.

Australia is the only country in the OECD that does not have a workers entitlements protection scheme!

Addressing the rally in Canberra on Tuesday, Kim Beazley pledged that a Federal Labor Government would legislate for a national protection scheme as a �priority� when elected.

As part of its campaign, the CFMEU is also focussing on Reith�s proposal to abolish the coal industry�s centrally managed Long Service Leave Fund. Indeed, Reith wants to remove Long Service Leave from all awards by buying out, or trading off, existing entitlements.

The CFMEU has pointed out that the only entitlement the Oakdale miners will receive is their long service leave payment. If Reith had had his way, they would have been denied even this.

Prime Minister Howard continues to refuse to meet directly with the Union and representatives of the Oakdale miners.

Following the Canberra rally on Tuesday, CFMEU national leaders and Oakdale miners representatives met with Reith, John Fay and Nick Minchin.

The Union outlined its demands for support for the Oakdale miners and their families. They warned the Government that mineworkers would not tolerate the destruction of the Long Service Leave Fund and they declared the CFMEU�s support for a national scheme to secure all workers entitlements

Reith, Fay and Minchin committed to replying in three weeks.

The CFMEU bluntly told the Federal Government that Tuesday�s impressive demonstration was confined to Union delegates participation.

The Union warned that if these issues are not addressed satisfactorily, we will be mobilising our entire membership and supporters to march on Canberra.

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  Issue 19 contents

Interview: Moore for the Battlers
NCOSS director Garry Moore gives the community sector's response to this week's State Budget

Unions: AWU's Bush Blitz
"This is AWU Country". That's the slogan for the Australian Workers Union as it launches its campaign to address the specific needs of workers throughout regional and rural Australia.

Indigenous: Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide
A United Nations committee slams Australia on indigenous native title rights.

International: Unions Post-War Stand
The world labour group demands KFOR track war-crimes authors and says social dimension central to Balkan reconstruction.

History: How Swede It Was
Swedish seafarers play an important role in South Australia's maritime history.

Review: If He Had Only Listened To Me ...
If Michael Thompson had listened to me the current debate raging in the nation�s opinion pages about his book may not have been as hysterical.

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