It seems such a long time ago since we were hearing all about the need to protect jobs at the then Rio Tinto owned Mount Thorley Warkworth (MTW) open cut mine.
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That was back in 2015 when Rio Tinto was pushing for an expansion of their mine which had previously been blocked by a series of successful court actions by the Bulga Milbroadale Progress Association.
The company, as is usually the case in NSW, eventually gained that expansion approval despite the courts saying otherwise and the call for the mine to use underground methods to minimise its impact on the environment and local communities.
During the long approval process Rio Tinto repeatedly said it was essential for the open cut plans to get the green light to save 1500 mine jobs.
Well Rio Tinto sold that mine and its neighbour Hunter Valley Operations, last September, to the Chinese miner Yancoal in a multi-billion dollar deal.
And last week we reported on the first job losses at MTW with the company confirming it will be reducing its use of contractors following a restructure of its current excavator rosters.
A company spokesperson said approximately 78 contractors employed by Programmed Skilled Workforce will be affected by the changes and cease employment at MTW by April 1.
This decision has upset and shocked the affected contractors, their family’s, friends and many in the community.
However, for those who were opposed to the mine’s expansion and other longtime coal industry operatives the news was no surprise at all.
Of course those people feel sorry for the affected contractors but they knew Rio Tinto was using employment figures to suit their plans and once sold jobs would go.
The only way to survive in this industry today is to run the leanest operation you can and Rio Tinto never ran lean operations.
The question now is are more jobs on the line?
Rumours abound that more jobs will go not only at MTW but also at HVO once the joint venture with Glencore to manage that mine is finalised.
For those with jobs perhaps an extremely lean operating mine means their jobs are more secure.
But for those facing redundancy its a tough time and finding similar positions is no walk in the park.