600 West Coast miners strike
Giles Brown
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Around 600 workers at a West Coast mine have stopped work today to show solidarity with North Island miners striking over pay and rostering.
Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) national mining advocate Ray Urquhart said around 300 were picketing the main entrance to the Huntly opencast and Huntly East underground mines.
EPMU West Coast organiser Matt Winter said he also expected around 200 miners to protest at three locations around the Stockton opencast mine, near Westport, today.
A new multi-employer collective agreement (MECA) is being negotiated for mine workers around the country and there has been bad feeling among West Coast workers over the new Stockton Alliance which is running the site.
Since the partnership between Solid Energy and Australian company Downer EDI began operating the mine in October at least 70 contractors who re-applied to work there have been turned down.
"It's to do with the formation of the new contract and the renewal of the coalmining MECA and also in support of our North Island brothers,'' said Winter.
Workers at Solid Energy's Spring Creek mine, near Greymouth, would also be meeting in "a day or so'' to discuss whether 130 should go on strike there.
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How nice of the EPMU/Labour Party (run by the same person) to start striking for no other reason than to support their "brothers". Sad. Interesting they are using brother instead of comrades like they usually do!