http://www.theaustralian.com.au/index_national.htm The Australian Sacked miners jobs to go to non-union staff By STEFANIE BALOGH 19dec98 A GROUNDBREAKING decision in one of the nation's longest-running and most bitter industrial disputes yesterday cleared the way for non- union workers to replace more than 300 sacked coal miners. The coal mining union slammed the ruling by the full bench of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission as a Patrick stevedores- style attack on the nation's coal mines, claiming the result was worse than that of the waterfront dispute. However the mine's new owners, a subsidiary of mining giant Rio Tinto, welcomed the decision, saying its plan was to have a "working relationship directly with our employees". In a majority decision, the AIRC overturned an order that would have forced the controversial Gordonstone coal mine to rehire sacked union miners when it restarts operations. It leaves the 312 workers - sacked 15 months ago in the nation's largest unfair dismissal case - jobless. The Construction Forestry Mining and Engineering Union plans to appeal to the Federal Court. The Gordonstone mine in Emerald in central Queensland gained national attention for its use of security guards and dogs to lock-out the sacked picketers six months before the same tactics were employed by Patricks on the nation's waterfronts. In February, the AIRC ruled that the sacked workforce be awarded $4.65 million compensation because their dismissals were "harsh, unjust and unreasonable" but did not order their reinstatement. Six months later, Commissioner Errol Hodder issued a special order forcing any new owner of the mine to rehire the sacked workers on a seniority basis. However, the two to one AIRC ruling yesterday found it was unfair to give the sacked workers a double benefit and quashed the special clause. The decision was applauded by the mine's new owners, Pacific Coal, a Queensland subsidiary of mining giant Rio Tinto. But the CFMEU labelled the ruling a black day for workers and said it paved the way for Patrick-style tactics in all industries. The CFMEU's Gordonstone division president, Stuart Vaccaneo, said the decision had "sold out" workers and done more to change the face of industrial relations in Australia than the waterfront dispute. Pacific Coal general manager Ross Hanningan said he did not believe the clause - which was between the CFMEU and the mine's former owners Arco - would have been an issue for Rio Tinto. But he said: "As it now stands, it's going to make the opening for us a lot smoother than if that rule stayed in place". Mr Hanningan said the company wanted to hire on merit and denied it was interested in breaking the back of unions. In yesterday's ruling, two of the three commissioners found the decision by Mr Hodder - a former national secretary of the Australian Workers Union - to protect the miners' jobs, despite their receiving compensation payouts, was a "miscarriage of his discretion". They agreed with Arco's arguments that workers should not be allowed "a double benefit". ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton
