September 16, 2026
Mineworkers to rally in Mudgee after contractor numbers surge 44 per cent but Glencore employs just 12 new permanent workers
Glencore has flooded its Ulan Underground mine with out-of-town contractors while creating barely any new secure, permanent jobs for the Mudgee community.
Figures obtained by the Mining and Energy Union show contractor numbers at Ulan Underground increased from 149 in July 2025 to 215 in August 2026.
That is an increase of 66 contractors—or 44 per cent—in just 13 months.
However, Glencore has employed only 12 new permanent workers at Ulan Underground since the site’s Enterprise Agreement expired in September 2024.
Contractors at Ulan Underground typically live outside the Mudgee region and travel in for work. While they perform ongoing work at the mine, they are not offered the security, wages and conditions that come with permanent, direct employment.
The MEU is calling on Glencore to offer those contractors permanent jobs and create more secure employment opportunities for people from Mudgee and surrounding communities. Mudgee locals can support Ulan Underground workers’ fight for secure local jobs and fair wages by signing the petition here.
The figures have emerged as Ulan Underground mineworkers prepare to rally at Lawson Park in Mudgee on Thursday and Friday over Glencore’s failure to deliver good local jobs and fair local wages.
Ulan Underground workers have been bargaining for a new Enterprise Agreement since March 2024 and have not received a pay rise since March 2023.
They are paid 11.5 per cent less than workers at Glencore’s neighbouring Ulan West mine, despite the two underground mines being less than two kilometres apart, owned by the same multinational company and mining the same coal seam.
After lengthy negotiations failed to produce an agreement, Ulan Underground workers took protected industrial action last year. Glencore responded by imposing two consecutive seven-day lockouts.
In December 2025, the Fair Work Commission declared the bargaining intractable.
An intractable bargaining declaration is made when the Commission is satisfied that bargaining has reached a dead end and there is no reasonable prospect of the parties reaching agreement without its intervention.
The declaration opened the way for the Commission to arbitrate the outstanding issues and finally bring the dispute to an end.
Glencore appealed the declaration to a Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission. The parties are now waiting for the Full Bench process to be resolved, leaving workers stuck on wage rates set three and a half years ago.
Further proceedings could follow after the Full Bench process, creating the potential for workers to be kept waiting even longer.
MEU South Western District President Bob Timbs said Glencore was extracting enormous wealth from Mudgee while denying the community the secure jobs and fair wages it deserved.
“Glencore has flooded Ulan with out-of-towners who take their money home with them while barely employing any new permanent workers,” Mr Timbs said.
“It has added another 66 contractors in just over a year but employed only 12 new permanent workers since the Enterprise Agreement expired.
“More people passing through the mine gate does not mean good jobs for Mudgee.
“These contractors are generally travelling into the region for work and leaving again. That does not provide the same lasting benefit as secure jobs held by people who live locally, raise their families here and spend their wages with local businesses.
“The contractors are not the problem. They are workers who deserve secure jobs too.
“If they are performing ongoing work at Ulan, Glencore should offer them permanent, directly employed roles and give them the opportunity to build their lives in the Mudgee region.
“Instead, Glencore is increasingly relying on a transient contractor workforce while permanent recruitment has barely moved.
“At the same time, its existing permanent workforce has gone three and a half years without a pay rise and is paid 11.5 per cent less than workers at Glencore’s mine next door.
“That tells the Mudgee community everything it needs to know about Glencore’s priorities.
“Glencore is happy to extract Mudgee’s coal and take the profits, but it is not delivering a fair return through good permanent jobs and fair local wages.
“These workers have bargained for almost two and a half years. They took lawful industrial action, endured two weeks of Glencore lockouts and went through the Fair Work Commission process.
“The Commission found there was no reasonable prospect of agreement without its intervention and made a declaration that would allow the outstanding issues to be independently determined.
“Every additional delay means another month in which workers remain on 2023 wages and Glencore avoids resolving an indefensible 11.5 per cent pay gap between two of its own neighbouring mines.
“Glencore has all the resources necessary to settle this dispute and turn ongoing work at Ulan into secure permanent jobs. It is choosing not to.
“Mudgee should not be treated as a source of coal and profit while Glencore floods the mine with out-of-towners, starves the community of permanent jobs and pays local workers less than those at the mine next door.
“Glencore needs to offer contractors permanent employment, employ more locals and pay its Mudgee workforce fairly.”
Ulan Underground mineworkers and their families will rally at Lawson Park in Mudgee from 10am to 12pm on Thursday 17 September and Friday 18 September.
Media are invited to attend.
MEU representatives and Ulan Underground mineworkers will be available for interview.
THURSDAY 17 SEPTEMBER
10am–12pm
Lawson Park, Mudgee
FRIDAY 18 SEPTEMBER
10am–12pm
Lawson Park, Mudgee