Over 4,000 coal miners in the Australian state of Queensland are in an ongoing industrial dispute with one of the biggest mining companies in the world over health and safety issues. BHP wants to remove critical health & safety roles from the workers and their union. This is a direct attack against union workplace structures and it would immediately endanger the lives of the miners. In the mines the union’s strength is the best guarantee of health & safety, as the company and governments care more about profits than workers’ lives. Negotiations for a new workplace agreement that have been continuing for over a year with a number of strikes. Coal workers are being supported by the ACTU, the peak body of the Australian trade union movement.
Over 4,000 coal miners in the Australian state of Queensland are in an ongoing industrial dispute with one of the biggest mining companies in the world over health and safety issues. BHP wants to remove critical health & safety roles from the workers and their union. This is a direct attack against union workplace structures and it would immediately endanger the lives of the miners. In the mines the union’s strength is the best guarantee of health & safety, as the company and governments care more about profits than workers’ lives. Negotiations for a new workplace agreement that have been continuing for over a year with a number of strikes. Coal workers are being supported by the ACTU, the peak body of the Australian trade union movement.
