B'Ville: Protest at Rio Tinto Mining Company id PAA28512; Sat, 4 Oct 1997 15:15:26 -0400 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source: VIKKI@lexsun.law.uts.edu.au Wed Oct 1 22:28:21 1997 Sydney Morning Herald Newspaper Thursday, October 2, 1997 Mining dispute: 8,000 out Family sit-in ... protest at the Sydney office of Rio Tinto yesterday. Photograph by ANDREW TAYLOR By BRAD NORINGTON, Industrial Editor Rio Tinto's battle for power with the coalmining union spread across the entire Hunter Valley yesterday as 8,000 workers at more than 40 collieries began a protest strike. The three-day strike, called by the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), marks a serious escalation of industrial action at Rio Tinto's Hunter Valley No 1 mine. The union is now open to damages claims worth millions of dollars for illegal sympathy strikes called at companies not involved in the central conflict between Rio Tinto and the CFMEU. At a meeting in his office last night, the Premier urged senior officials from the CFMEU and Rio Tinto to accept an arbitrated settlement by the Industrial Relations Commission. Mr Carr said that arbitration was "inevitable" to end hostilities over disputed union work practices. The president of the CFMEU, Mr John Maitland, said his union's executive was weighing up whether to support an enforced arbitration. Rio Tinto's mine manager, Mr Allan Davies, said he did not think a forced settlement was appropriate and had doubts the CFMEU would abide by it. The worsening conflict in the Hunter Valley came as the American-owned Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) sacking all 312 workers at its north Queensland Gordonstone mine in preparation for later restarting operations with new hand-picked employees on individual contracts. ARCO yesterday employed up to 50 armed security guards to block the mine entrance and patrol streets at the nearby mining town of Emerald, where retrenched workers will be evicted from company housing at the end of this month. In the Hunter Valley conflict, the Industrial Relations Commission will order all miners involved in protest strikes back to work today. Commissioner Greg Harrison agreed to grant the orders this morning to companies caught up in secondary strikes - including Shell, Exxon, Peabody, Liddell, Cumnock, Wambo, Ingwe and Rio Tinto mines other than Hunter Valley No 1 - pending the outcome of last night's talks with Mr Carr. The scene is now set for these companies, as innocent bystanders, to initiate legal action if they want damages from the CFMEU for interfering with production. The CFMEU's executive decided to widen strike action from Rio Tinto's Hunter Valley No 1 mine to involve all mines in the valley at a meeting in Sydney on Tuesday night. The vice-president of the CFMEU's northern district division, Mr Mick Kelly, said the strike was a protest against Rio Tinto's decision to issue writs against union officials. Rio Tinto has served the writs on 11 officials as a prelude to seeking an injunction in the NSW Supreme Court next Tuesday over allegedly illegal obstruction, sabotage and intimidation at Hunter Valley No 1 mine pickets. All Hunter Valley mine companies which do not have union-friendly "industry framework" agreements with the CFMEU are now caught in a three-day strike which started at 3pm yesterday. Other companies which have framework agreements are subject to a 24-hour strike and the union is not obstructing their coal shipments. The Hunter Valley conflict will return to the commission this morning. The State Government is expected to call for the commission to enforce a settlement, possibly with the CFMEU's backing. A union rally yesterday at the Prime Minister's Sydney office over a 15 per cent pay claim was dominated by speeches over the mining conflict. The ACTU president, Ms Jennie George, attacked Rio Tinto for "cold-hearted" pursuit of profits at the expense of mining communities. =========================== Thursday, October 2, 1997 Mine families proudly defiant Children on the march. Photograph by ANDREW TAYLOR By MICHAEL EVANS Erin Dowse didn't think twice about getting up before dawn yesterday to send a message to her dad's bosses at the mining giant Rio Tinto. According to her mother, Mrs Bronwyn Dowse, Erin, 14, was defiant in her support of her father, Edward, a 16-year veteran at the Hunter Valley No1 Mine in Newcastle. "This company is treating my dad like scum," said Erin, one of a group of 100 miners' wives and children who protested in Rio Tinto's Sydney office for two hours yesterday. Erin, her mother and 10-year-old brother Joel had set off at dawn from the family's home at Branxton, north-west of Newcastle, to join two busloads heading for Sydney in support of the three-week strike. Hundreds of coloured balloons reading "My father is fighting for my future" and "United we bargain, divided we beg" filled the Rio Tinto foyer as protesters chanted slogans. Mrs Barbara Archer, whose husband has worked at the mine for 17 years, said: "If Rio Tinto breaks the union, it'll have a snowballing effect on other industries." Another miner's wife, Mrs Lyn Macbain, said the strike was having a devastating effect on the local community. "All we want is the right for our husbands to go to work without any confrontation and the right for them to have their union represent them and know they've got a job and a secure job," she said. Mine manager Mr Allan Davies, who met a delegation of three wives and the ACTU president, Ms Jennie George, said he was not in favour of arbitration to resolve the dispute. ===================== Thursday, October 2, 1997 Guards accused of stalking sacked miners On guard ... security men opposite Peter Storch's house. Photograph by GREG WHITE By GREG ROBERTS Police are investigating complaints that security guards employed by the company at the centre of a bitter mining industrial dispute are intimidating miners in the central Queensland town of Emerald. Security guards employed by the American-owned Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) are tailing and photographing former company mine-workers. One of the sacked miners, Mr Peter Storch, said he had been tailed by guards for the past 10 weeks. A number of guards are housed in a home overlooking Mr Storch's property. Between one and three security vehicles follow him and his wife, Margaret, wherever they go. Mr Storch said his wife has been terrified and reduced to tears by strange men tailing her at night. Mr Storch said the guards continually took photographs of him. "They know what colour jocks I'm wearing," he said. ARCO distributed retrenchment notices yesterday to all 312 workers at its Gordonstone coal mine, 50 kilometres west of Emerald. The sackings followed a decision by the Federal Court on Tuesday to reject an application by the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) seeking to prevent the mine's closure. In what is emerging as an important test-case of the new Federal industrial laws, ARCO wants to employ a new workforce with staff signing individual contracts. All but one of the 312 sacked workers had rejected company plans to scrap a collective bargaining agreement in force since 1995. The CFMEU's district vice-president, Mr Jim Lambley, said several other unionists had been tailed by the guards. "We can only assume it is the paranoid way they do things in the western American States where they are based," Mr Lambley said. ARCO's acting managing director, Mr Garry Wright, said the company was not intimidating workers. He said the guards were employed because of threats made against company personnel and property. "We have taken these threats seriously and we have moved to protect our staff and facilities and to secure the site," he said. "Our plans have been put into operation with the knowledge and support of the police." However, Senior Sergeant Jim McLean, of the Emerald police, denied that the police supported the company's actions in tailing and photographing workers. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytpac-10.04.97-15:15:20-25475