Workers sacked from Ulan mine last year have had a win, with Fair Work Australia (FWA) telling Xstrata it should offer them jobs at other mines.

Last week, FWA’s Commissioner Raffaelli ruled that Ulan’s operator Xstrata should have offered alternative employment to six retrenched workers.

This is great news and not just for the six workers involved. It sets the important precedent that major mine operators like Xstrata need to look after their workers and offer them alternative opportunities if work slows down at one location

Xstrata is among Australia’s biggest operators and is in a good position to offer jobs to workers willing to relocate.

38 mine workers – 19 full time permanent and 19 fixed termers – lost their jobs at Ulan back in September last year. 10 of them took up the CFMEU’s offer to take part in a legal bid to get their jobs back on the grounds the cuts were not genuine redundancies.

We will continue to fight for the four positions found to be genuine redundancies.

This has been a long and complicated legal process and we expect Xstrata to appeal this ruling on redeployment.

But the CFMEU is committed to standing up for our members’ jobs. The mine workers at Ulan have offered loyal service to the company – Xstrata should offer loyalty in return by making a genuine attempt to redeploy its skilled and experienced workers.