Pressure on Ashton employees to sign or no job

This is the scenario facing more than 180 staff at Yancoal’s three operations in the Hunter Valley, including employees at their Ashton underground mine outside of Singleton.

The other operations affected are Donaldson Abel which is between Newcastle and Cessnock, and the troubled Austar mine at Cessnock - in 2014 two men were tragically killed in an underground collapse.

The move could have far-reaching implications for workers across the industry as Yancaol Australia operate seven mines that are located in some of the country's richest coal reserves in both New South Wales and Queensland.

These include Moolarben near Mudgee, west of Singleton, and to the north-east both Duralie and Straford in the Gloucester Basin.

But their reach also extends to Western Australia were they manage an open-cut mine in the Collie Basin.

The “ultimatum” has been met with fierce opposition from the Collieries Staff and Officials Association, who today, are representing worried workers at Fair Work Australia in Newcastle.

They say, in what is being seen as preparation for lay-offs at the three Hunter coal mines, the company has taken the extraordinary step of establishing a front company known as Yancoal Mining Services to avoid workers’ redundancy entitlements.

And, that Yancoal has demanded that 180 workers at the three mines sign new contracts with the front company by this Monday, or face the sack.

But the new contracts strip them of much of their existing redundancy entitlements and accrued future sick leave.

Director of the Collieries’ Staff and Officials Association Catherine Bolger told The Argus it is morally and ethically wrong.

She said the ultimatum has angered workers who are too afraid to speak out for fear of retribution by the company.

“They’re being asked to do exactly the same job, for exactly the same company, but to give up many of their workplace entitlements, or else,” Ms Bolger said.

“Yancoal is effectively holding a gun to their head.”

She said that for long term employees at the mines, stripping redundancy out of their contracts leaves them vulnerable.

“All this at a time when Yancoal is pushing to remove redundancy after nine years of service in an upcoming hearing at Fair Work,” she said.

“The cost of these actions by the company for many long term staff if retrenched is likely to be tens of thousands of dollars – money they rely on to support their families.”

Ms Bolger said the case will be a test of Fair Work Australia’s capacity to deal with dodgy employment practices.

“Clearly this is part of a long term strategy by the company to get around its obligation to pay future redundancies to some staff who have done 10 years of service or more.”

“It tells the local community a lot about the commitment of the company to Hunter workers and families that they would so brazenly shaft their most trusted and long-serving staff.

“This is a betrayal of the most loyal miners at these sites.”

“It has us concerned about the company’s future intentions and the job security of workers at these mines – why else would a company suddenly move to water down its workforce redundancy entitlements?”

A Yancoal spokesperson says their new regional operating model has been “misinterpreted” as they have not removed redundancies, and the decision to get rid of out dated conditions, like the paying out of accrued sick leave, is necessary in the interests of establishing a fair, modern and equitable workplace agreement.

"We have not removed redundancies. The continued misrepresentation of this fact by the Director of the Collier’s Staff and Officials Association is inappropriate and unacceptable," he says.

"As has been explained to affected staff and the Collier’s Staff and Official Association, balances of accrued personal leave as at 31/1/16 will be preserved and paid out in the event of future resignation or termination."

"Personal leave accrued beyond 1/2/16 will no longer be paid out on resignation or termination. This change is in accordance with standard modern workplace agreements and moving forward, any personal leave payment on possible future retrenchment will apply as required by legislation."

“With Yancoal continuing to operate at a loss, we are taking all necessary action in the interests of supporting our people and the future viability of our underground mines,” the spokesperson says.

“The regional model has been implemented to allow the business to more effectively and efficiently manage costs across the underground mines, as well as share the skills and experience of its people across operations.”

“We have engaged with our people openly and transparently regarding the proposed changes to their individual agreements, as very few staff share the exact same terms and benefits."

“As YMS will be the employing Company entity as of February 2016, affected staff will no longer be employed under previous site based employment contracts and as such will need to progress a YMS contract to maintain employment.”

Although he did concede a small number of staff employees will also no longer have company vehicles provided as part of their package, and have instead been advised they will receive a once-off cash payment and the option of purchasing their vehicle.