The Federal Court has given the green light to the Fair Work Commission’s changes to the Black Coal Mining Industry Award that will cap redundancy pay to 15 years of service.
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Despite being a member of the Coal Coal Mining Industry Employer Group that pushed for the amendment in the Award’s 4-year review, Centennial Coal said the cap will not apply to workers on their sites.
"There will be no impact to our people because there is provision in our site EBA's [Enterprise Bargaining Agreements] for 3 weeks for each year of service uncapped and the EBA overrides the new award redundancy provisions,” Centennial spokersperson Katie Brassil said.
Springvale Mine’s lodge president Curtis Jones confirmed the mine’s current Enterprise Agreement includes provisions for three weeks of severance and retrenchment payments for each year of a redundant employees’ service to the mine. The agreement will be reviewed in 12 months.
The redundancy provisions in the Black Coal Mining Industry Award were amended in March of this year to put a 15 year cap on the accruing of retrenchment pay in case of redundancy.
The updated provisions allow for a maximum of 30 weeks of ordinary pay for redundant employees, where two weeks of retrenchment pay is given for every year of service. Severance pay (equivalent to one week of ordinary pay per years of service) remains uncapped.
The Collieries’ Staff and Officials Association said that, along with the CFMEU and the AMWU, they had “fought tooth and nail” against the changes.
South Western District Vice President of the CFMEU, Graeme Osbourne, said the union was assessing the changes with its legal department.
