The appointed administrator and liquidator, KordaMentha, said it expected to have transitioned about 220 truck operators and trainees over to Skilled Engineering by this morning.
Another 35 light vehicle-related trades personnel were also expected to be on the books of either Skilled Engineering or WorkPac by this time.
“A further 80 staff engaged on various other client sites will have transitioned to new employment,” KordaMentha said.
“This means that over 95% of the on-hire labour force in the Hunter Valley will be in employment from tomorrow or the next rostered shift, on the same site as previously deployed.”
KordaMentha said it was pleased with the timely cooperation from the mining industry clients and other labour hire firms.
“Our priority is to ensure that all of the workforce can be redeployed as soon as possible so as to minimise the disruption to them and their families,” KordaMentha liquidator and administrator Craig Shepard said.
“We are also optimistic that a good proportion of supervisory and office staff will also find new roles.”
Earlier this week KordaMentha said it aimed to find new jobs for all of the 3500 workers and 180 staff that were retrenched due to Bluestone’s receivership, and it was also working towards paying out all employee entitlements, including unpaid wages.
“Our objective is to have all statutory employee entitlement claims lodged as a priority,” Shepard said.
“The immediate liquidation of the subsidiary companies will enable immediate access to the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Scheme.”
Bluestone’s fortunes worsened after a failed rights issue in May.
“Since then, Bluestone has been actively seeking merger opportunities with the objective of improving the profitability of the business through increased scale, and seeking to attract additional investor funds to repair its balance sheet,” KordaMentha said.
“These efforts have not been successful and the Board was left with no option but to appoint external administrators.”
A KordaMentha spokesman told International Coal News the rest of the strategy for the administrators will be worked out after the priority of transferring the workforce was complete.
