The Federal Government will introduce legislation to ensure casual workers in the black coal industry receive the same long-service leave entitlements as their full time counterparts.
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There are 6000 casual employees in the industry who work a compressed fortnightly roster. This means they work longer hours in the first week and shorter hours in the second.
But current weekly counting of their hours reported by employers is denying them equality in their entitlements.
"There's no excuse for dudding workers out of their entitlements," Minister for Workplace Relations Tony Burke said.
"Casuals in the black coal mining industry deserve fair treatment. They deserve the long-service leave entitlements they earned."
Casual coal miners will finally have their hours fairly counted towards long service leave under Protecting Workers Entitlements Bill to be introduced to Federal Parliament this week.
Mining and Energy Union General Secretary Grahame Kelly said casual workers had been short-changed because there was no provision to average out the 35 ordinary hours over the roster cycle, as is the case for permanent employees.
"We made the case for addressing this inequity for casuals in our submission to the 2021 review into the Coal Long Service Leave Scheme," he said.
"We are very pleased that the Albanese Government has seen the importance of addressing this issue, which affects many thousands of workers across our coalfields."
"Mining companies' aggressive push to casualise the workforce has undermined rights and entitlements for coal mineworkers across the industry. We are very pleased to have a Federal Government willing to push back and strengthen laws in the interests of workers."
In 2018, 400 workers formed a class action against BHP. The class action, led by former Mt Arthur mine casual worker Simon Turner.
Mr Turner, alleged the workers were left $40 million worse off because they were hired as "casual" workers by labour hire firms and not as permanent staff, despite their rosters being published months in advance.
Mr Turner, who used to drive trucks at Mt Arthur, said casual workers did "exactly the same work" and were on the same roster as permanent employees, but were paid much less. Casual workers were not paid annual leave, nor were they eligible for paid sick leave, he said.
"I loved my job, I loved working in the mine, mate. It was long and hard work but it was an enjoyable job," he said.
"But it just bears down on you when you have permanents taking holidays, and we basically do the same job but no-one gets holidays. People would go to work while they were sick and they were asked 'How come you're here?' And they'd say, 'I've got to be here, because I don't get paid otherwise."
The Newcastle Herald reported in February that a review of the coal industry long service scheme recommended a comprehensive overhaul of its operations and called for independent directors on the industry-run board that administers it.
The government ordered the review after lobbying from One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts, who had used Senate estimates to raise concerns with Coal LSL (the government corporation established to regulate and manage long service leave entitlements on behalf of employees and employers) arising from his work with disaffected Hunter Region coal miners, including Mr Turner.
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Consultants KPMG found that while the existing scheme worked for most permanent coal miners, there were also a range of problems, including the treatment of casual coal miners.
Its 20 recommendations covered the treatment and coverage of employees, compliance and enforcement, governance and administrative processes.
In its response to the 140-page review, the government said it accepted the 10 recommendations addressed to it and supported the other 10 recommendations, saying it found "the evidence and analysis outlined in the report persuasive".
The review said that despite some calls to abolish the corporation, KPMG believed that "a number of pressing issues" could be addressed by legislative reform and other changes to improve the scheme's performance in the short to medium term.
Coal LSL said it welcomed the report and would begin to work through the detail of the recommendations.
Hunter MP Dan Repacholi said the proposed bill would iron out unfair laws which were disadvantaging casual workers in the coal mining sector.
"Workers deserve to be paid what they are entitled to, and the averaging of hours across a roster cycle will mean 6,000 workers are getting a fair long service leave balance so that when they take the leave they aren't taking a pay cut," he said.
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Matthew Kelly
Matthew Kelly has worked as a journalist for more than 25 years. He has been working as a general reporter at the Newcastle Herald since 2018. In recent years he has reported on subjects including environment, energy, water security, manufacturing and higher education. He has previously covered issues including the health and environmental impacts of uncovered coal wagons in the Hunter Valley, the pollution of legacy of former industrial sites and freedom of information issues.
Matthew Kelly has worked as a journalist for more than 25 years. He has been working as a general reporter at the Newcastle Herald since 2018. In recent years he has reported on subjects including environment, energy, water security, manufacturing and higher education. He has previously covered issues including the health and environmental impacts of uncovered coal wagons in the Hunter Valley, the pollution of legacy of former industrial sites and freedom of information issues.
