These latest cuts come on top of the 55 jobs lost at the mine in May last year. 

Mount Owen mine is operated by Thiess mine under contract to Glencore and the company has advised that it will be ‘parking up’ one of its smaller 2500 diggers and this decision has resulted in the job losses.

Production levels however are expected to remain the same with more coal being extracted by the larger excavators. 

This mine used to employ nearly 400 workers and that number would now be around 300 according to Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) northern district president, Peter Jordan.

“The workers will be offered voluntary redundancy but as those who wished to take up that offer probably did so last year and the fact there are virtually no other jobs available in the industry at this time I think they would be looking at least 20 plus forced redundancies,” he said.

Glencore has confirmed changes at its Mt Owen mine.

 The mine’s operator, Thiess Pty Ltd, has informed its employees and their representatives that 36 production positions at the mine are to be made redundant. 

 Thiess hopes to achieve the staff reductions through voluntary redundancies.

 Mt Owen, an open cut operation near Singleton, in the Upper Hunter Valley, produced 4.3 million tonnes of saleable coal in 2013.Glencore said the proposed changes would not affect customer contracts.

This is a very tough time for the local CFMEU with job losses mounting each month. So far this year 500 jobs have gone from Integra, 160 from Mt Arthur and Ravensworth Underground is expected to go into care and maintenance in September/October with a further 65 positions lost.

“All this is taking a heavy toll not only on our members but also the local economy, “ he said.

“And sadly we are not hearing any news about new jobs being created anywhere in the mining industry.

“We remain hopeful the Drayton South project will get the go ahead and we want to see the Mt Thorley and Warkworth mine expansion also approved because if it isn’t we are looking at 1300 jobs  that will be put at risk.

The CFMEU has filed disputes against BHP Billiton’s Mt Arthur mine with the Fair Work Commission this week.

The union claims the company has refused to offer 45 tradesmen – nine electricians and 36 fitters the chance to move into production jobs.

Mr Jordan said the union held discussions with the company and it agreed to offer production jobs to those people whose positions were cut in the mine’s washery and service bay. 

“But the company refused point blank to offer production jobs to the 45 tradesmen who are losing their jobs,” he said.

Mr Jordan said currently 250 casual truck drivers were employed on the mine site so why not offer their existing permanent workers a chance to work as truck drivers and keep them employed. 

“Why lose these trades people because when things turn around the company will be screaming out for people like them because it’s so hard to get trained staff.

“We simply asked the company to offer them redeployment in the mine and they totally refused our proposal which disgusted the union. The company acted with such arrogance when they like to say they genuinely care about their employees and the local community.”

Mr Jordan said the union was told it would be too costly to retrain the tradesmen to drive the trucks.

“That is rubbish they are 70 per cent trained already because they have to test drive trucks in their current positions, “ he said.

“It would be far more costly to find qualified tradesmen when they need them again.”

He said it was his understanding the trades positions lost were mostly  held by young local people with families.

“They could at least offer them the opportunity to work as truck drivers that’s all we were asking,” he said.