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14 December, 2009
Industrial actions by 1,000 coal miners employed by New Zealand state-owned Solid Energy and its contractors ended in early December when members of the Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) accepted two-year wage and benefit terms from mine operators.
The settlement at four mines on both the North and South Islands ends an eight-month dispute that erupted into industrial actions, full strikes, sympathy strikes, and a lockout, covering a period from late October to the end of November. The accord also sets in place the terms of the Multi-employer Collective Agreement (MECA), contract terms that had been elusive since March 2009.
Miners will receive a 5% salary increase in 2010 and 2011, with miners from the Huntly East colliery on the North Island accepting an 8.5% increase to compensate for shift rotation changes. In addition, staff receive a one-off NZ$2,000 bonus for their roles in Solid Energy posting record 2008 profit results.
A series of industrial actions started with a “go-slow” job action at the Rotowaro mine on the North Island in late October. That immediately resulted in a lockout by contractor RWE Mining, leading to sympathy strikes at two South Island mines – Stockton and Spring Creek – that are operated by Solid Energy and another contractor. After miners quit the strikes to return to bargaining, the employers again submitted the same regressive terms, resulting in walkouts and renewed sympathy strikes in late during the November.
With Solid losing millions of dollars each week due to the work stoppages, the two sides reconvened talks on 29-30 November. Shortly after, miners at Huntly East, Rotowaro, and Stockton accepted a revised MECA deal, with miners at Spring Creek ratifying the contract on 3 December.
Stated EPMU Assistant National Secretary Ged O’Connell, “Throughout the dispute, Solid tried to set miners from different areas against each other by offering them different deals within the MECA, but our members stood by each other and made sure that the company knew that an injury to one was an injury to all.”
This is “a membership,” he added, which was “united in their strength and determination to get a fair deal.”