While a Griffin Coal spokesperson has ensured its workforce will not be impacted after its Singapore-based lending company went into receivership, South West MLC Steve Thomas said jobs were still under threat.
Mr Thomas called on the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) to negotiate in good faith and stop blaming everyone else.
“The company will go under and around 330 direct jobs will be lost if the union continues to refuse pay negotiations,” he said.
“The union is not recognising the reality of the situation and is deluding the community.”
Mr Thomas said If no agreement was reached then Griffin would be under threat. “Without change there will be a significant impact within months,” he said.
In June, the Fair Work Commission approved a decision that saw 70 maintenance workers receive a 43 per cent pay cut and shifts change to seven days on and three days off and seven nights on and four days off.
Mr Thomas believes that Griffin does have a long-term future but only if they make dramatic cost changes.
In a statement released by the company on the Indian stock exchange, Lanco Infratech Limited confirmed that their Singapore-based lenders, the Subsidiary of LITL had appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services as the receivers and managers.
A spokesperson for Griffin Lanco said the move would not impact the operations of Griffin Coal. “The lenders to Lanco Resources International Pte Ltd, a company incorporated in Singapore, appointed a receiver and manager for the purpose of perfecting the lenders’ security over the shares. Again, no receivers have been appointed over Griffin Coal, nor over Lanco Resources Australia Pty Ltd,” they said.
AMWU State Secretary Steve McCartney described Steve Thomas as being ‘out of touch’.
“I’ve stretched back into the farthest reaches of my memory and I can’t think of a member of parliament less in touch with his community than Steve Thomas,” he said.
Mr McCartney said the ongoing negotiations would prove difficult now that there was a bank involved.
“One of the biggest problems we have had in the last six months is the mine has been run by a lawyer and a bank. This issue is about the exploitation of loopholes in the Fair Work Act by crooked companies when they know they’re headed for administration,” he said.
Jemillah Dawson
I started as a journalist in 2011 and now manage mastheads in the South West of WA. My passion is politics and sport. I believe we are the voice for the community but also we inform the community of what they need to know. Email jemillah.dawson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
I started as a journalist in 2011 and now manage mastheads in the South West of WA. My passion is politics and sport. I believe we are the voice for the community but also we inform the community of what they need to know. Email jemillah.dawson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
