A two-year labour dispute in Queensland, Australia, broke into a continuous strike on 27 July when 233 miners of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) downed tools at open-pit coal mines operated by Theiss Contractors, a division of mining contractor Leighton Holdings.

The mine in Collinsville in northern Queensland is owned by the Swiss-Anglo company Xstrata.

CFMEU miners and their families are angry that the contract operator pays workers who fly-in and fly-out of the colliery far more than local residents. Despite efforts by the company to run the mine with scab labour, the 15-day strike has rendered the mine inoperable since emergency response teams are also part of the strike.

On 2 August, some 18 wives and partners of striking miners blocked trains loaded with coal from leaving the Collinsville area, causing the trains to return to the mine. That scene was repeated over the weekend and today, 9 August, resulting in the arrests of four women for railway-related trespassing offenses. The trains are operated by the QR National rail line.

The CFMEU is seeking job security protections from Theiss in a new enterprise bargaining agreement, as well as pay packages that miners in other areas of the Bowen Basin receive. Collinsville miners have lost 24% in wages over the past several years as Theiss continues to stall bargaining.

The contractor has offered a 6% increase this year, and 4% hikes in each of the next two years, but Collinsville miners are seeking increases of 9%, 6%, and 5% to bring them close to parity with other mining enterprises of Queensland. The CFMEU also is seeking super-annuation contributions lifted by 12% on a supplemental pension scheme.

Xstrata Coal owns 55% of the Collinsville mine that produces and exports thermal coal, while Japan’s Itochu Coal Resources and Sumitomo hold 35% and 10% stakes, respectively.

Meanwhile, the 21-month dispute between CFMEU and Xstrata at the Tahmoor colliery in New South Wales continues. The union is seeking solution by an independent arbitrator of Australia’s Fair Work Tribunal in order to retain union work rights at the mine, but the company is resisting. The livelihoods of some 240 miners are at stake.

How about someone tells us, what the average mining bosses take home.

I am suggesting that some of the CEOs are paid far to much.  Unions say that the pay should be capped at 10 times the average full time workers wage.

People have a right to belong to a union, and if they have to go on strike because there is no other way, then so be it.   Sometimes it is necessary.