July 19, 2019
Congratulations to Craig Carberry in the South West and Jeff Scales in Queensland who have won elections for Vice President roles.
Craig has been a coal miner at Ulan Underground in the NSW Central West for 32 years and a lodge official for the past 12 years, holding roles as VP, Secretary and President.
With bargaining for a number of major Enterprise Agreements coming up in the next year or two Craig’s focus is on building density across the region.
“Our major concern is to get full-time jobs, there’s no job security. I’m going to get out and meet everyone and focus on bringing more people into the fold. We need to bolster membership to get good agreements.”
Craig takes over the Vice President role from Graeme Osborne, who has replaced Andy Honeysett as District President. He is based in the District’s Mudgee office.
Jeff Scales has worked as an open cut operator at German Creek coal mine in central Queensland for 11 years and
has served as a lodge official and member of the district board of management.
He was involved in the lengthy 2016 dispute with German Creek’s owners Anglo American over their attack on conditions, which saw workers strike for 130 days.
He sees the big challenges as casualisation of mining jobs, maintaining conditions in agreements and the Coalition Government’s agenda to make it more difficult for unions to operate.
“I’ll be focused on engaging members on the ground and protecting their rights and entitlements.”
Jeff takes up his role in August and will work out of the District’s Rockhampton office, replacing Glenn Power who is now District Secretary.
