MINES

Oaky North lock-out

GLENCORE has locked out employees at its Oaky North underground mine in central Queensland in response to the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union’s campaign.

Lou Caruana
Oaky North lock-out

To date, 6400 man hours have been lost to stoppages at the mine, Glencore said in a statement. 

“The ongoing stoppages have created uncertainty among our workforce and the action is impacting their families,” it said.

“We remain available for meaningful discussions with the CFMEU in pursuit of a modern, flexible Enterprise Agreement at Oaky North that is not only consistent with agreements accepted by the CFMEU at other mining operations but also maintains wage levels that are currently around $100,000 higher than the average annual Australian wage.”

Glencore said operations at Oaky North would continue to use trained and competent personnel.

The CFMEU said Glencore had refused to budge on unfair provisions in the replacement workplace agreement under negotiation. 

CFMEU Queensland district vice-president Chris Brodsky said the deal Glencore was proposing would remove workers’ access to workplace representation in some cases, among a range of other issues. 

“This threatening behaviour from Glencore is unacceptable,” he said. 

“Workers should not feel threatened for simply exercising their right to protest.

“This is just another example of how Glencore treats its workforce.”

Brodsky said the proposed agreement would limit workers’ access to workplace representation and allow the company to unilaterally change rosters against the wishes of employees.

“Workers are not asking for anything more than they are entitled to and with coal prices on the rise, Glencore has no excuse whatsoever for trying to strip workers of their basic right,” he said.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Future Fleets Report 2024

The report paints a picture of the equipment landscape and includes detailed profiles of mines that are employing these fleets

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Digitalisation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations that use digitalisation technology to drive improvements across all areas of mining production

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Automation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations using autonomous solutions in every region and sector, including analysis of the factors driving investment decisions

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Exploration Report 2023 (feat. Opaxe data)

A comprehensive review of current exploration rates, trending exploration technologies, a ranking of top drill intercepts and a catalogue of 2022 Initial Resource Estimates and recent discovery successes.