Last minute efforts on to avoid strike at Australian PWCS Newcastle port

Mining News  |  2013-05-06 04:40:47   |   By

The union heads are in meeting with the largest coal export facility in Australia as part of efforts to avoid a strike which has been already voted by five trade unions earlier during the week

BRISBANE (Scrap Monster) : The union heads are in meeting with the largest coal export facility in Australia as part of efforts to avoid a strike which has been already voted by five trade unions earlier during the week.

Around 200 members representing the five trade unions- the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, Australian Workers' Union, CEPU for communications and electrical staff, Maritime Union of Australia and the Transport Workers' Union voted in favor of a strike up to 7 days.

The unions have expressed concerns over the settlement procedure of contracts and use of contractors, which may pose threat to job security of its workers. The pay negotiations have reached nowhere. The workplace agreements have been a bone of contention between the company and workers since July last year. At the same time, the Port Waratah Coal Services Limited (PWCS) stated that they were not anti-unions and were open to negotiations. The union leaders have also expressed willingness for negotiations.

Although a negotiated outcome is widely expected, any failure in negotiations may lead to a week-long strike in the weeks to come. The implication of work stoppage would be serious as it will lead to disruption of coal shipments from New South Wales.

PWCS operates one of the world’s largest coal handling operations. PWCS operates two coal terminals, Carrington and Kooragang which are located in the Port of Newcastle. Carrington Coal Terminal has a shiploading capacity of 25 million tonnes per annum (‘Mtpa’) and Kooragang Coal Terminal has a shiploading capacity of 108 Mtpa. These terminals receive, assemble and load Hunter Valley coal for export to customers around the world.