Nearly 200 workers at the Dendrobium coal mine, near Wollongong, walked off the job on 14 August over casualisation.

A BHP subsidiary, South 32, has been negotiating with the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union for nearly 18 months over the mine workers’ enterprise agreement, which expired in April last year.

The Dendrobium CFMEU Lodge president told Red Flag that the company has been increasingly pressuring contractors on the site to casualise their workers, by limiting contract lengths and forcing small businesses to change their workers’ conditions or lose contracts.

The workers directly employed by South 32 want all permanent ongoing positions to remain that way. “We’re even prepared to accept redundancies if a position is no longer needed”, he said, “but we refuse to see permanent positions casualised”.

Workplace agreements at South 32’s nearby mines at Appin and West Cliff expired last month, and workers there will be closely following this dispute.

A picket is in place at the mine entrance on Cordeaux Road, supported by the South Coast Labour Council and the community.

The Illawarra region has traditionally relied on coal mining, steel production and the port as the backbones of its economy, and has a proud history of workers’ struggles. As a picketer, David, said, “The strike is for future job security. You just can’t roll over”.