NZ Coal: Sympathy Strikes Counter Lockout, Pave Way for New Contracts

The tense situation in New Zealand’s coal pits has eased. But the end to hostilities came only after a wave of sympathy strikes shut down coal production following the lockout of 200 miners by Australian-based contractor HWE Mining on 18 July.

The New Zealand mining industry’s collective talks, between ICEM affiliate Engineering, Paper, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) and state-owned Solid Energy and its contractors, already had been tense before the three-day lockout. Talks began in April for the 800 miners at some dozen pits but when little progress was made, EPMU miners began taking industrial actions late in June.

 
The situation intensified when HWE Mining locked out workers at Solid’s Rotowaro mine near Huntly 13 days ago. EPMU members at other Solid Energy mines – particularly Huntly East, Spring Creek, Terrace, and New Vale – immediately took action and stopped production.

The lockout reminded New Zealanders that Australian mining companies are only too anxious to export the agenda of Prime Minister John Howard of Australia.

The sympathy strikes of other companies put enough pressure on HWE Mining to come to terms in its portion of the Mining Industry Multi-Employer Collective Agreement. Some half-dozen of the other mining contractors also settled two-year agreements. The EPMU has won yearly pay gains of 5% to 5.5% in this round of talks.

EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little said the HWE Mining lockout was broken because of “huge support from miners across the country.”

He added, “Our members at Rotowaro stood strong in the face of some extreme employer militancy, and they’ve managed to end the lockout and win the decent pay rise and improved conditions they were after. This was only achieved through the collective strength of miners.”

To date, the only contractor that has not come to terms with the EPMU is Doug Hood Mining, which operates Solid Energy’s Stockton mine near Westport. EPMU members there took a 24-hour strike action on 27 July in protest to the contractor’s stall tactics.