Union calls for FIFO worker caps amid concerns about Groote Eylandt mining town's future
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There are calls for limits on the employment of fly-in fly-out (FIFO) workers amid concerns that one of the Northern Territory's few surviving mining towns is losing the last of its residential workers.
GEMCO's manganese mine has been operating since the 1960s on Groote Eylandt, a remote archipelago on traditional lands in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Its workers were historically based in mining town Alyangula, yet GEMCO's 900-person-strong workforce is today dominated by FIFO workers.
"Community spirit-wise and workforce-wise, I think this would be the lowest I've ever seen this community and workforce," one long-term Alyangula resident said in January of the trend towards FIFO.
The mine's owner, South32, had been reserved about its long-term plans.
Yet an internal email, sent in December and accessed since by the ABC, mapped out the mine's future.
"Today GEMCO has an expected mine life of approximately 12 years," the email, attributed to vice president of operations Rob Jackson, stated.
"Part of the shift to a post-mining future on Groote Eylandt will involve the ongoing transition of GEMCO's workforce away from being residential.
"About 25 per cent of GEMCO's workforce are resident on the Eylandt and increasing numbers of our people are requesting to move to FIFO rosters.
"We are developing options that will give more people the choice to move off the Eylandt and work a FIFO roster."
Union alleges workers 'pressured' into FIFO
Josh Burling, the NT organiser of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), alleged residential GEMCO workers were feeling pressured into FIFO arrangements.
"Last time I was over there, I spoke to a number of workers and their main concern was the mine has told them it will be 100 per cent FIFO in five years' time," he said.
"There were local workers there who live on the island who have major concerns with this, and Indigenous workers who have major concerns about how the community will cope with these changes.
"It's about the fall back onto the local community; the school, the pool, services that the mine does help with while they have their residential people there."
The union's NT and Queensland secretary, Michael Ravbar, echoed these concerns.
The Labor powerbroker said the union would be pushing for employment quotas at an upcoming party conference to prevent mining companies from employing 100 per cent FIFO workforces.
"Governments can fix this issue quite easily by putting in quotas. It's a no-brainer," Mr Ravbar said.
"But there's got to be a political will and I don't think [NT Chief Minister] Michael Gunner has the strength of character to take the mining companies on."
Company denies pressuring workers into FIFO
Speaking to the ABC after the internal email was leaked, GEMCO's Mr Jackson flatly denied workers were being pressured into moving away from the island, adding the company's FIFO employment rate had not dramatically changed since 2010.
Yet Mr Jackson said the company had been negotiating FIFO work with residential workers and that the company's decision to send the internal email in December formed part of a bigger plan.
"I guess fundamentally we're trying to be transparent with our workforce. So the level of dialogue taking place with the traditional land owners on Groote Eylandt and also the NT Government," he said.
The company last year signed an expanded access agreement with the Anindilyakwa Land Council, which manages the traditional Indigenous lands on which the mine sits, to explore further mining in the remote region.
However, Mr Jackson said the manganese mine's lifespan was still likely "in the magnitude" of 12 years, with a firmer number to be announced in company results this week.
"All mines have finite lives. We want to make sure that we're not caught out at the end of the mine's life rushing to create a sustainable future," he said.
"What happens between now and then, we haven't properly defined yet, but that's I guess part of the process we've kicked off now that we want to work with our stakeholders and define what that path will look like."
Mr Jackson could not confirm if workers would still have the choice to be residential in five years' time.
"I don't think we'll get to a complete FIFO model because [there] will always be some local Indigenous folk who work for us."
Mr Jackson has also just gone FIFO in his role on Groote Eylandt after taking on extra responsibilities at a second mine west of Townsville.
NT Minister for Primary Industry and Resources Ken Vowles was not available for comment.
Topics: mining-industry, mining-rural, unions, federal---state-issues, human-interest, community-and-society, industrial-relations, nt
