April 8, 2026
Workers at Glencore’s Mangoola coal mine near Muswellbrook have overwhelmingly voted no to a proposed enterprise agreement that would have cut contractor pay by up to $36,000 a year and embedded a lower-paid workforce on site.
The 93% no vote sends a clear message that workers will not accept a deal that undermines hard fought Same Job Same Pay protections or drives down standards across the industry.
The vote follows a heated campaign over the agreement, which proposed introducing a tiered pay structure while also promising all current directly employed staff that they would remain on the top tier, quarantined from the initial impact.
Under current Same Job Same Pay laws and a 2025 Fair Work Commission order specific to the site, labour-hire workers at Mangoola have their pay tied to the rates in the site agreement.
Introducing lower tiers would immediately lower that benchmark.
Mining and Energy Union Northern Mining and NSW Energy District President Robin Williams said the result was a strong stand by workers to protect hard-won conditions.
“Workers at Mangoola have drawn a line in the sand,” Mr Williams said.
“They’ve said clearly they won’t accept a deal that cuts pay for people doing the same job or opens the door to a cheaper workforce over time.”
“For decades, labour-hire has been used to undercut wages. Same Job Same Pay was meant to fix that. This proposal would have taken us backwards.”
Mr Williams said contractors, who stood to lose up to $36,000 a year under the proposal, had no vote but would have borne the immediate impact.
“That didn’t sit right with workers, and it shouldn’t sit right with anyone,” he said.