22nd Annual Memorial Day for Miners

BY SARAH BARONOWSKI

Mine workers and their families will gather at Cessnock this weekend for the 22nd Annual CFMEU Memorial Day.

They will pay their respects to the miners who tragically lost their lives on the northern coal fields, including 53-year-old Stephen Norman who was killed in a fatal accident at the Rix Creek mine last December.

CFMEU District President, Peter Jordan says sadly, the number of names on the memorial wall continues to grow.

"I did a walk along the Memorial Wall only during the course of this week and what it reveals is in those 22 years that we've conducted a memorial service, there's been 29 names put on that wall.

"That's more than one a year so we've got a lot of work to do. We can't afford to continue to be putting one name up on that memorial wall each year. It's totally unacceptable."

He says the statistics are proof that the industry still has a long way to go towards improving its safety standards.

"What those statistics show is that the industry is still killing mine workers - that's totally unacceptable.

"We have to do something better and under no circumstances can we as an industry sit back and think or believe that we have world-class health and safety in the mining industry. The facts say that we don't."

The Memorial Day will be held at the coal mining union's Federation House in Cessnock on Sunday.

All members of the community are invited to attend.

[Image: Newcastle Herald] 

Mining workers rally against Glencore, no result yet

BY LAUREN FREEMANTLE

Efforts to strike an agreement between mining company Glencore and its dissatisfied employees have so far failed, with tensions coming to a head yesterday at Singleton Showground.

Glencore employees, members of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), gathered at the Showground on Tuesday to rally for new enterprise agreements after the expiration of previous agreements.

Around 1300 union members were present and calling for greater job security, higher redundancy pay and a lessening of the use of contractors within the company.

With three work stoppages at the mining giant's Hunter Valley open cut sites, Northern District President of the CFMEU, Peter Jordan, believes the 12-week disagreement has been detrimental to Glencore's productivity.

"I think it's had a major effect on their production, that's our understanding of it," he said, "They're having problems with their shipments and we're told by other coal proprietors [Glencore] are busily in contact with them for the purposes of purchasing coal to meet their shipments.

"They may have their standard line that they say to the media," Mr Jordan continued, "that the industrial action has had minimal impact on them and they're continuing to operate safely, but the fact of the matter is that's not what's reality on the job."

Mr Jordan said the union passed three resolutions yesterday in a unanimous vote. "Firstly, that the district will continue to be directed by its 1400 members to call further aggregate meetings in the event that we're not able to progress the negotiations.

"Secondly, the individual mine sites in the meantime would continue to implement stoppages and other industrial action to bring about a successful agreement.

"And thirdly, the 1300 members in attendance made it very clear they wanted to call on Glencore to come to the table and deliver on the key issues at hand."

Glencore's Ravensworth, Glendell, Mangoola, Bulga and Liddell mines are among those whose workers are being represented by the union.

Tuesday's rally at Singleton Showground. Image Source: Singleton Argus. 

Workers Feared Exposed To Deadly Fibres At Kooragang Chemical Plant

BY IAN CROUCH

SafeWork NSW is undertaking an investigation following claims workers at the Orica ammonium nitrate plant at Kooragang Island have been exposed to asbestos fibres.

Unions say dozens of workers have been exposed to the potentially deadly fibres in one of the chimney stacks while carrying out an overhaul of the plant.

The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union claims workers were not made aware of the danger and were not issued with the proper protective equipment while working in a confined space.

The plant was embroiled in controversy when a plume of toxic hexavalent chromium drifted over Stockton during a similar overhaul in 2011.

The Orica Chemical Plant On Kooragang Island Picture: australianmining.com.su

Newcastle Man Killed At Sydney Work Site

BY IAN CROUCH

The death of a Newcastle construction worker at a Sydney work site has raised safety concerns.

Tim Macpherson was working as a rigger on barge being used in the construction of a new ferry wharf at Barangaroo on Wednesday when he was struck and killed by a 3 tonne steel beam which fell on him.

He leaves behind a 14-month old son and his pregnant partner.

SafeWork NSW is investigating the death, however the Construction Union says it's concerned about whether the work was being carried out correctly, describing the tragedy as a case of industrial manslaughter.