July 27, 2017 - Rolling work stoppages have been continuing this week at five Glencore open-cut coal mines in the Australian state of New South Wales and the protests are expected to intensify over this weekend, a senior union official said Thursday. 

Workers at the Bulga open-cut mine have been on strike from Tuesday and although they will return to work for the day shift on Friday, they are planning a 12-hour stoppage from the start of the night shift. 

The Bulga workers were planning to continue their strike during the day shift on Saturday and Sunday before resuming work on Monday, said Peter Jordan, president of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union's northern mining and energy district in New South Wales.

Bulga Underground Vote 

A vote on the union's proposed industrial action involving workers at Bulga is set to go ahead next week, after Australia's Fair Work Commission sanctioned the move on Friday. 

"We expect that probably in the week commencing August 10 they will have the ability to take industrial action," said Jordan. 

At the Glendell open-cut mine, union workers are to strike for 12 hours during Saturday and Sunday night-time shifts, and a 24-hour strike is planned at the mine site for Monday, Jordan said. 

There was a 24-hour strike at Glencore's Liddell open-cut mine on Tuesday, and workers also took industrial action for 12 hours on Wednesday and on Thursday. They are due to work normally over the weekend. 

Mangoola mineworkers belonging to the CFMEU have been holding two-hour strikes every day this week that will continue till Friday. They plan to go on 24-hour strikes on Saturday and Sunday, and return to work on Monday. 

Twenty-four hour strikes usually begin at 6 or 7 am depending on the start time of each Glencore mine, a senior union official said. TALKS HALTED 

Jordan expressed concern at the lack of progress in negotiations with Glencore for new workplace agreements for the mine sites to replace the ones that expired up to two years ago in some cases. 

In the case of Mangoola mine, talks have been halted until the outcome of an employee vote next week on whether to accept a new agreement that has already been rejected by the workers. 

"Until we know the result of the vote we are unable to have further discussions," Jordan said, adding that he was certain the agreement would be rejected again because it addressed none of the issues under negotiation such as security of employment. 

A similar vote is being held at the Glendell mine, and negotiations for its agreement cannot proceed until the outcome is known, Jordan said. 

Workers at the Ravensworth open-cut mine are planning a 10-hour strike on Friday, followed by 24-hour strike on Saturday and Sunday. 

Glencore's Liddell and Ravensworth coal preparation plants have been affected by two-hour rolling stoppages from Wednesday that are set to continue through Monday. 

"We are available at any time to resume negotiations to resolve this dispute," Jordan said. 

The strike action at the five open-cut mines and processing plants operated by Glencore this week add up to around 300 hours, and come on top of 1,630 hours of strike since early June. 

Ulan Strike

A seventh Glencore coal mine in New South Wales, Ulan underground, saw an 18-hour work stoppage on July 14. 

This was after its unionized workers voted for industrial action following the expiry of the mine site's workplace agreement," Jordan said. 

The underground mine is part of Glencore's 90%-owned Ulan complex for thermal coal that produces 20 million mt/year including a 6,400 kcal/kg NAR export product. It is located in New South Wales and is 10% owned by Japanese trader Mitsubishi. 

At Glencore's Integra underground mine in the Hunter Valley where production restarted in December after it was acquired from from Brazilian miner Vale, collective bargaining has stalled as the status of its collective agreement is being challenged in Australia's federal courts. 

"Those [Integra] workers are not under a Glencore agreement, and are unable to participate in a bargaining dispute," Jordan said. 

Glencore's mining contractor for Integra, Delta SBD, went into administration in April, causing some disruption to operations that lasted several weeks until WorkPac took over, Jordan said. 

WorkPac contractors are currently under a non-coal industry workplace agreement originally designed for workers constructing the National Broadband Network, he added. 

Glencore was approached for comment but has yet to respond.