Latest outrage at Ranger

A contractor at the Ranger uranium mine survived a life 
threatening accident only because the mine is in such poor shape 
that, when an ore hopper hatch crushed him, a wall gave way 
saving his life.

Energy Resources Australia (ERA), the operator of the mine which 
is in Kakadu National Park, has been blasted by Northern 
Territory unions. The unions blame the use of federal individual 
work contracts, AWAs, and an "ideological industrial agenda" for 
falling safety standards, including the uranium poisoning of up 
to 120 mineworkers earlier this year.

The mine is a classic example of where profits come first, and 
the lives and health and safety of workers come a poor second.

In that outrageous incident last March, workers at the Rio-Tinto-
owned mine, drank and showered in water containing 400 times the 
legal limit of uranium.

"Falling safety standards can be linked to AWAs", said Didge 
McDonald from the Northern Territory Labor Council. "The 
aggressive anti-union policy of the operator ERA means worker 
involvement on OH&S [occupational health and safety] is 
negligible. OH&S is more punitive than co-operative, which flies 
in the face of all modern practice.

"Their ideological industrial agenda has lead to potentially 120 
workers being poisoned."

ERA has been aggressively using AWAs, leaving just a handful of 
Ranger employees on a union-negotiated enterprise bargaining 
agreement. Mr McDonald says that Territory unions are calling for 
major changes to mine safety legislation and for the enforcement 
role to be taken out of the existing government department and 
given to NT WorkSafe.

Unions have been critical of the NT Mining Management Act and 
both territory and Federal Governments over the lack of an 
effective enforcement regime.

"The underlying principle of the act is self-regulation", said Mr 
McDonald. "Both enforcement agencies are close to the employers."

Mr McDonald was also critical of the extensive use of contractors 
in the top end mining industry, claiming it was setting up a "two 
tiered" workforce with two levels of safety.

Unions are eagerly anticipating the findings of a soon to be 
released NT Government report into the Ranger Mine.