The WA strike becomes a possibility as the CMFEU and other unions stalemate with BHP Mitsubishi Alliance over an EA dispute regarding some 4000 employees in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.

Union pressure on Griffin reportedly involves the possible walk-out of hundreds of coal miners if Griffin fails to meet a June 1 deadline to agree to new pay terms.

The West Australian reported that the union would apply to Fair Work Australia to take protected industrial action if the miner did not meet the deadline.

Griffin Coal general manager of employee and industrial relations Chris Godfrey said the company could not afford excessive pay demands and a strike would hamper the Collie operation which supplies coal to the nearby Bluewaters power station.

“The stoppages would have a real adverse impact on our business’s ability to remain operational,” he told The West Australian.

CFMEU also said that the building of Griffin’s proposed Muja South coal mine 18km southeast of Collie may result in local residents losing construction positions to out-of-town workers.

Construction of Muja South was expected to begin this year pending an environmental assessment process.

Griffin said the proposed mine has an estimated recoverable resource of 140 million tonnes of coal.

Last year, Indian conglomerate Lanco Infratech signed a $730 million deal for Griffin’s mines in the Collie Basin.