Huntly miners face redundancy

14 April, 2009

Solid Energy contractor HWE Mining has announced sixty redundancies in Huntly, blaming the impact of the global recession.

HWE Mining operates the Rotowaru mine near Huntly and was the scene of a lockout during the Coal MECA renewal in 2007 that sparked a wave of protest strikes by EPMU miners nationwide.

Members were sent home for the weekend and told to wait for a courier last Monday that would tell them whether or not they had a job to come back to.

EPMU organiser Ray Urquhart says the whole process has been disappointing.

"There's not much you can say really. We put up a good proposal looking at some alternatives to keep people in jobs but the company seemed to have already made its mind up.

"It's going to be hard for these members to find work in the current environment but we'll be making sure they get their full union redundancy entitlements and any government assistance that's available."

The EPMU represents around 200 members at HWE Mining in Huntly.