The Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/news/9905/13/text/national13.html Industrial verdict a blow to Rio Tinto Date: 13/05/99 By HELEN TRINCA In a blow to the attempt by the mining company Rio Tinto to bypass the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, the commission will finally intervene to force a settlement in the long-running dispute in the Hunter valley coalfields. The decision clearing the way for the commission to arbitrate after two years of industrial warfare at the Hunter Valley Number 1 mine is also a setback to the Federal Government's moves to sideline the commission in industrial disputes. Rio Tinto's struggle to negotiate outside the commission has been seen as a major element of the Government's efforts to deregulate the labour market, and the decision boosts the power of unions to call for old-style arbitration on the grounds of protecting public welfare or the national economy. Workers at the mine have consistently rejected the firm's attempts to introduce changes via a collective agreement, voting down five separate offers since April 1997 and battling for a return to arbitration since last November. Despite the impasse, the company pursued retrenchments on merit, dismissing 115 men last year to cut the workforce to 208. The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union said last night that the mine had "made a motza" last year and that the "full range of wages and conditions" was now up for grabs. The general president of the mining and energy division, Mr Tony Maher, said: "Rio Tinto is rolling in dough and it will be very interesting to see what the commission does." However, the general manager at the mine, Mr Allan Davies, warned that pay rises would be delayed by the return to arbitration, with the union's demands for restrictive work practices coming under the commission's full glare. "The losers in this drawn-out process have been the employees," he said. "They have been misled by their union into waiting for more than two years for a pay rise." The saga over commission intervention began in November 1997 when, after an eight-week strike, Justice Alan Boulton ordered an end to the bargaining period to force a settlement. This was a shock to the Federal Government and the company, which wanted direct negotiations with workers under new workplace relations laws. Rio Tinto appealed and a full bench of the commission quashed the order. The union retaliated and won an appeal last November to the Federal Court, which ordered the same full bench of the commission, headed by the president, Justice Giudice, to rehear the case. Yesterday, the full bench ruled Justice Boulton's 1997 decision must stand and that arbitration should go ahead in July. The judgment has impact beyond Rio Tinto because it makes clear a full bench of the commission has limited room to move in reviewing any order to intervene. This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited. ************************************************************************* 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 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
