July 27, 2023
Last month the Senate passed the Albanese Government’s latest tranche of changes to the Fair Work Act, which include changes to the Coal Long Service Leave Scheme to count casual coal miners’ hours fairly.
While coal miners have a very good long service leave scheme, we know that coal miners work compressed rosters, which has led to some casual miners being denied their full entitlements.
The Protecting Worker Entitlements Act has fixed an unfair provision in the Coal Long Service Leave Act meaning that long service leave entitlements – whether in time off or accrued entitlements on retirement – will reflect their actual hours worked.
Mining companies’ aggressive push to casualise the workforce has undermined rights and entitlements for coal mineworkers across the industry.
That is why the Mining and Energy Union made the case for addressing this inequity in our submission to the 2021 review into the Coal Long Service Leave Scheme.
We welcome the passage of these laws through Parliament. The changes to Coal Long Service Leave will positively impact thousands of workers and reflect the nature of today’s industry.