The Australian Government has introduced new measures under the Protecting Worker Entitlements Bill to fix an unfair provision in the Coal Long Service Leave Act that limits the number of hours miners are provided towards long service leave to 35 per week.
Under the new laws, casual coal miners will finally have their hours fairly counted towards long service leave as they were previously being denied their full entitlements.
According to Mining and Energy Union General Secretary Grahame Kelly, miners often work compressed rosters, which can potentially include long hours in the first week and few hours in the next, potentially reducing a miner’s long leave request.
Kelly said although Australian coal miners have a very good long-service leave scheme, it needs a few updates to certain parts to close current loopholes and reflect the nature of the current environment.
“Casuals have been short-changed because there has been no provision to average out the 35 ordinary hours over the roster cycle, as is the case for permanent employees,” he added.
Kelly stated that the case was made to address the inequity for casuals in the union’s submission to the 2021 review of the Coal Long Service Leave Scheme.
He said that the union is pleased that the government has considered the importance of the issue, which potentially affects the long service leaves of thousands of miners working across the country’s coal fields.
“Mining companies’ aggressive push to casualise the workforce has undermined rights and entitlements for coal mineworkers across the industry. We are very pleased to have a Federal Government willing to push back and strengthen laws in the interests of workers,” Kelly added.
