The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union also represents miners in New Zealand, and its national secretary Andrew Little told ILN that outstanding wages and holiday pay would be paid.
Little said there was some doubt over the notice period with the union arguing the workers were owed four weeks notice.
He added that some workers would get paid out while others would not because they must have worked at the mine for at least 12 months to qualify.
“Because it’s a new mine a lot of them haven’t worked for 12 months,” he said.
Little said a bonus payment of $NZ7000-8000 was promised but the receivers, PricewaterhouseCoopers, had signalled they were “not obliged to pay that”
Given the financial situation of the behind-budget mine, with Pike due to repay a $25 million finance facility by mid-December before the disaster, it was foreseeable that the company could go into receivership.
But the union believed management could have done a lot more to update the workforce about this possible outcome.
“They said a couple of weeks ago they have $100 million business disruption insurance but it turns out it’s months off in even collecting that, even if they do, and they just misled guys about it,” Little said.
“The disappointing thing about it is they just misled the workforce about what could happen and what is happening.
“We predicted that they would go into receivership at some point because they have got no income.”
The union leader has previously observed that Pike River chief executive Peter Whittall has been made into a “sort of hero” in New Zealand.
“Over the last few days we have been saying listen, no one is a hero here, this guy runs a mine that just killed 29 people, let’s stop putting him on a pedestal,” he told ILN last week.
Noting that Pike miners were “completely angry” and “ropeable” yesterday, his message might start finding an audience.
“The tide is turning in terms of people’s attitudes towards Pike River,” Little said.
ILN has sought comment from Pike.
During his briefing yesterday, receiver John Fisk said Pike had $9 million in the bank.
Pike also owes millions of dollars to around 100 contractors and other companies around Greymouth, according to 3News.
Many of the Pike miners, with 114 retrenched so far, said they would pack up and head to Australia according to that report.
