Miners strike gold — A report from the coalface

Paddy Gorman

This time last year at the Roche-operated Coppabella open cut 
coal mine in Central Queensland there was only one union member 
in a workforce of around 200. Today, with the workforce hovering 
around 190, more than 80 percent have signed with the CFMEU's 
Mining Division. At Roche's Commodore open cut coal mine at 
Millmerran, a couple of hours drive west of Brisbane, the 
workforce of 35 mineworkers are all employed on individual 
contracts. However, since last August, more than 30 have joined 
the union.

This remarkable transformation is the result of a concerted 
campaign by the CFMEU, in association with the ACTU Organising 
Unit, to turn the tide of anti-unionism promoted by the Howard 
Government's anti-worker laws.

The successes at both Coppabella and Millmerran are spearheading 
a broader campaign throughout NSW and Queensland to unionise new 
mining operations that are seeking to use Howard's laws to screen 
out conscious union members in favour of employees with non-union 
backgrounds.

In January, the CFMEU conducted an organising blitz in the 
Blackwater (Qld) area targeting non-union contracting operations. 
The drive was organised jointly by the CFMEU's Queensland and 
national offices, with rank and file delegates joining forces 
with CFMEU Board of Management members and organisers from the 
ACTU's Unit.

The Mining Division's Queensland-based general vice president Reg 
Coates said "about 90 percent of workers spoken to had joined the 
union."

The organising campaign is also reaping results in NSW among 
contractors in the Northern District and at newly-established 
mines such as BHP's Dendrobrium mine in the South/West.

New solutions

The Federal Government has encouraged new operations to employ 
workers on AWAs (individual work contracts) and to aggressively 
challenge union members to abandon collective bargaining for 
individual contracts.

While the CFMEU has held the line at established operations, it 
is at new operations and among the growing contracting workforce 
that employers have trained their guns.

Roche is a perfect example of the new breed of contractors in 
coal that come from predominantly non-union sectors. Unlike 
traditional contractors who employed workers to supplement the 
permanent workforce, this breed operates on long-term contracts 
and often provides the entire workforce.

For instance, Roche operates the Coppabella and Commodore open 
cuts on seven-year contracts and directly employs the entire 
workforces.

From NSW to Queensland the pattern is the same and the management 
practices almost identical. Workers are primarily recruited from 
the non-union hard rock mining industry as well as locals off the 
land with no previous union involvement.

Their pay and conditions are substantially below general coal 
industry standards but above what most had earned outside.

Management brought their own cultures and experiences into the 
coal industry. This was basically anti-union and often bordered 
on the old master and servant mentality.

With a "competitive" cost structure built on lower wages and 
conditions, companies like Roche have gained an increasing 
foothold in the coal industry.

Initially, new starters were satisfied with the relative 
improvements in their positions. For our union this represented 
not only a great injustice to these exploited new workers, it 
also threatened the hard-won standards enjoyed by traditional 
members.

The challenge facing the CFMEU was to get to these workers and 
explain their rights. The operative word in the whole organising 
exercise was help — the union being there to assist the workers 
on the ground and to help them build their own collective base.

Coppabella

Situated about 150 kilometres west of Mackay, the Coppabella mine 
produces up to five million tonnes of coking coal a year. The 
operation commenced in 1999 with Roche among a number of 
contractors at the mine. Within two years Roche was the major 
contractor and registered a basic greenfields agreement with the 
union in February 2001.

However, with a workforce drawn almost exclusively from 
cleanskins, the union only emerged as a force after February last 
year when it sent the ACTU Organiser Unit's Bernie Farrelly to 
establish contact with the workforce.

Meetings were held in workers homes and at other locations 
outside the workplace. Gradually a picture emerged of people 
being dudded.

At Coppabella they work six-days on and three-days off. Day shift 
is 10.5-hours; night shift is 11-hours; and maintenance workers 
do 12-hour shifts.

Employees worked seven-hours straight without a crib break.

Investigations showed they were being short-changed in annual 
leave entitlements.

The company deducted payment for any "damage" caused from the 
bonus system, so, in practice, it was worth very little. 
Management's attitude to any complaints was — "if you don't like 
it, the gates aren't locked".

There was widespread fear of victimisation if workers took a 
stand. However, as they became increasingly aware of their rights 
and how much they were being dudded, they started to join the 
union.

Within a short time the rank and file started to see the benefits 
of a collective stand.

They broke the seven-hour stretch with a new smoko break. They 
won on annual leave, with each worker receiving an ex gratia 
payment of $1000 for each six-months of service in compensation 
for the shortfall in their annual leave entitlements. For some 
who were there from the start, this amounted to $5000. They won 
the right to vote on roster changes that were previously 
compulsory.

Importantly, for those at Coppabella and other Roche operations, 
the company reached agreement with the CFMEU mid-last year that 
they would respect the right of their employees to be in a union 
and that the company would honour its commitments to them. Rank 
and file members have since elected representatives from each 
area of the operation to go into negotiations with the company on 
a new EBA.

There is a very effective functioning Union Lodge in place at 
Coppabella. The President is Wade Gilmour; Secretary, Fiona 
O'Brien; Treasurer, Steve Houghton; and the Vice-Presidents are 
Mick Miller and Tony Bright.

Millmerran

The Commodore open cut is situated about 250 kilometres south 
west of Brisbane on the Darling Downs. With a workforce of around 
35, it produces 3.2 million tonnes of coal a year for the nearby 
Millmerran Power Station.

The mine is operated by Roche on a seven-year contract and it 
commenced production two years ago.

Roche recruited a workforce of cleanskins, none of whom had 
previous mining experience. The company employed them all on 
individual contracts and the management at Commodore, like 
Coppabella, believed in its divine right to rule, making it clear 
that anyone with complaints was free to go.

Following the success at Coppabella, former Collinsville coal 
miner Raz Hingston went to Millmerran in August last year to talk 
with employees and listen to what they had to say. Hingston is 
part of the ACTU Organising Unit and is funded by the CFMEU.

He had the same old story. Genuine complaints were summarily 
dismissed by management and workers shackled by AWAs, were not 
aware of their rights or the basic conditions to which they were 
entitled.

The union listened to what they had to say. Their crib room was 
far too small and they were eating off the floor. They had no 
toilet facilities.

Having failed to get any action as individuals, they took their 
first collective action by getting a petition together and 
presenting it to management. And, presto! They got a proper crib 
room and toilet facilities. All but four of the workforce joined 
the union.

Another of the important issues they then addressed collectively 
was the company practice requiring them to be on the job 15 
minutes before they were due to start work. The new Lodge 
demanded that they be paid overtime for this early start or they 
would start at the normal time.

The company relented and the normal time start is now in 
operation but the new union miners have put in a claim for back 
pay for all the early starts they were forced to make. This is 
estimated to be worth something like $1600 per worker.

With the AWAs due to expire in August this year, the Commodore 
mineworkers are already planning for a new collective agreement. 
Led by their Lodge Executive of President Justin Winter and shift 
delegates Murray Parker and Col McArthur, the miners are looking 
forward to a better and fairer future.

The Organising Unit

Reg Coates says the union's involvement with the ACTU Organising 
Unit has been a great success.

"Its function is to get out to where the non-union workers live 
and engage them. They talk and we listen. We advise them of their 
rights and leave them to make their own decisions. The underlying 
philosophy of the organising campaign is to empower the workers 
at the grass roots level by promoting confidence in them. We make 
it quite clear that we can't solve their problems for them, but 
they can and we can help."

While the ACTU recruits organisers and trainee organisers through 
its Unit, the CFMEU funds coal industry activities. It also 
supports organising drives in non-union areas like Rio Tinto's 
Pilbara operations.

Coates says rank and file support for the campaign has been 
crucial.

"The last time our union was faced with a non-union challenge of 
this dimension was in the 1930s after the Great Depression. Our 
union came through it then and we will come through it again. 
Coppabella, Millmerran and Blackwater show that given a free 
choice based on the truth, workers will choose to be part of the 
union where together, in a collective, they can protect and 
advance their rights and interests."

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Common Cause