The most baffling thing about this drawn-out dispute at Tahmoor Colliery is how willing Xstrata seems to be to cut off its nose to spite its face. 

Simply agreeing to the very reasonable requests of workers would ensure extremely profitable business as usual, but management seems determined to fight some sort of ideological battle. 

Xstrata must have lost a stack due to the stubborn position of Tahmoor management.

However management has been failing to disclose to its owners – its shareholders – the full cost of its long-running dispute.

Read the rest of this entry »

- Approving a $1.2 billion underground thermal coal mine at Ulan West, adjoining the existing Ulan complex near Mudgee - not the act of a business terrified of the government's proposed mining resource tax.

Read the rest of this entry »

Negotiations for a new enterprise agreement at Tahmoor Colliery have dragged on too long and will only be resolved with the help of an independent umpire.

We've been trying to negotiate a new agreement with Xstrata for 21 months. It’s time to resolve this dispute once and for all.

Xstrata spokesman James Rickards was on the radio telling ABC Illawarra listeners this week that the dispute was costing the business millions of dollars and should be resolved for the sake of workers and the community.

Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s face it: coal mining has to be the blokeiest industry in Australia, but last Friday's action from local women just goes to prove the true impact of what Xstrata is trying to do.

Tahmoor Colliery workers  returned to work last Friday morning, but their picket camps weren't deserted.

Support team: Women and kids 'man' the picket line

Read the rest of this entry »

News of a threat to the safety of an Xstrata staff member on the NSW South Coast on the weekend is of great concern.

Any threat of violence is to be condemned and thoroughly investigated by police.

I’m very disappointed that Xstrata has pre-empted the police investigation and immediately portrayed this incident as an industrial issue.

Xstrata made a public statement claiming the incident is in some way connected to the industrial negotiations between the Union and management at Tahmoor Colliery. This is completely inappropriate.

Read the rest of this entry »

The dispute with Xstrata at the Tahmoor Colliery has been punishing our local community for far too long, but the foreign mining giant seems determined to make things even worse.

Last Friday mine workers were due to start picketing in response to the company’s flat-out refusal to even come to the negotiation table on a new enterprise agreement.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mine workers at Tahmoor Colliery south of Sydney will resume industrial action for a week from tomorrow after Xstrata point blank refused an offer to resolve the current EA dispute through arbitration.

The Union offered the company an arrangement where we would suspend all industrial action and abide by an arbitrator’s decision on all outstanding matters.

These include:

• security of employment
• the company’s ability to roster workers on to 12-hour shifts
• remuneration and bonuses and
• manning levels.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tahmoor Colliery was the first port-of-call for the week-long tour of Xstrata mines in NSW and Queensland by myself and the inspirational Paris Mashego.

Paris, as many of you will know from my previous blog, is the chief negotiator of the National Union of Mine Workers (NUM) in South Africa.

I took Paris to Tahmoor, a hot spot in the ongoing battle against Xstrata.

Read the rest of this entry »

Xstrata boss Mick Davis might not be too keen on meeting with us, but at least representatives of the country his billion-dollar company calls home are.

This week myself and the Miners Union National Executive Tony Maher, Andrew Vickers and Ian Murray met with the Swiss Ambassador to Australia and the Consul General in Sydney to talk about Xstrata.

It was a very productive meeting. We spoke to Ambassador Woker and Consul General Meli about all the concerns we have about Xstrata and they were very interested to hear them.

Read the rest of this entry »

I am the wife of a Tahmoor miner and let me say right from the start I support their fight against Xstrata one hundred per cent.

It’s a team effort and every wife and partner of each of the Tahmoor miners is behind them. It’s our fight too.

But it’s been a struggle. It’s hard not knowing from one day to the next if my husband is going to keep his job.

And it’s not just me that worries, our three kids feel it too.

Read the rest of this entry »