July 20, 2017 - Industrial action at Glencore's Hunter Valley coal mining operations in New South Wales, Australia, is set to escalate, with workers from a sixth company mine -- Bulga underground -- seeking court approval on Thursday to join their 1,400 colleagues on strike, said a senior union official. 

Australia's Fair Work Commission is set to decide at a hearing on Thursday in Newcastle, whether or not to allow unionized workers at the Bulga underground mine to vote on strike action, a move opposed by Glencore. 

"If we are successful and we are able to have a vote, then all six [Glencore Hunter Valley] mines will be on strike," said Peter Jordan, president of the CFMEU's northern mining and energy district in New South Wales. 

An employment agreement covering workers at the Bulga underground mine site expires on Friday, and is the trigger for the strike vote application to the FWC employment tribunal, he said. 

"They [Glencore] are alleging that the union is not bargaining in good faith," said Jordan. "We have been in negotiations with Bulga underground for five meetings and we have been unable to resolve any of the claims," he stated. 

Bulga Underground Strike

The union has to give Glencore three days' notice of any planned strikes, leading to the possibility that the Bulga underground mine could be on strike within days of a vote in favour of strike action. 

Bulga underground mine produces 3.2 million mt/year of thermal and semi-soft coking coal, and to date it has been the only part of the Bulga complex unaffected by strikes. 

Around 400 unionized workers at the Bulga open-cut mine and coal-processing plant have been engaged in industrial action since June 8, including 11 work stoppages, each lasting 24 hours, and four 12-hour strikes, according to Jordan. 

Together with 892 unionized workers at four other Glencore open-cut mines in the Hunter Valley coalfield -- Glendell, Liddell, Mangoola, and Ravensworth -- they have taken 1,626 hours of work stoppages since early-June, equivalent to 67.7 lost days of production, according to union records. 

"These five mines are engaged in industrial action and are continuing to do so," said Jordan, adding that workers at Glencore's Mangoola mine had given the company notice of two stoppages at the weekend. 

"They have notified the company of two 24-hour stoppages over Saturday and Sunday," said Jordan. 

Union members working at Glencore's Liddell and Ravensworth coal handling and preparation plants have also been taking strike action since early-June, said Jordan. 

"1,400 members are engaging in industrial action," he said, adding that workers are told to leave Glencore's mine sites when they go on strike, which can extend the duration of any disruption. 

Glencore's Mangoola mine, a flagship operation producing 10.9 million mt/year of thermal coal, has seen 203 unionized workers take nearly 400 hours of strikes since June 2. 

The union-backed industrial action is part of a campaign to review employment agreements covering working conditions at the five mine sites, most of which have expired. Mangoola's and Ravensworth's agreements ended in 2014, and Glendell's and Liddell's both expired in 2016.

Talks Ongoing for Two Years 

"We have been in negotiations since that time [past two years] to get new agreements. It is two years later and they still haven't resolved it," said Jordan. 

As part of their negotiations for new employment agreements, workers and their union representatives want Glencore to address three issues: security of employment, the use of casual labor by the company, and redundancy terms. 

"These are the three key issues that are causing disruptions at the Hunter Valley mines," he said. 

Jordan said that of the 60 workers to have left Glencore's Hunter Valley mine sites over the past three years, almost all had been replaced by contractors rather than permanent employees, and at the Bulga open-cut mine, nearly half the workforce were contractors. 

"Even if they want to increase mine production they put on casual labor," he said. 

Industry figures showed 4,950 casual workers were employed in the Hunter Valley's northern coal district in April 2017, compared with 3,185 in January 2015, said Jordan. 

The five open-cut mines operated by Glencore in the Hunter Valley had a combined production of 30.9 million mt in 2016, mostly thermal coal and some semi-soft coking coal, according to company data. 

Glencore was contacted for comment, but none was received at the time of publication.