MORE than 200 mineworkers at Bloomfield Group's Rix's Creek mine have vowed to strike for another seven days from Sunday after a similar stoppage last week over enterprise bargaining negotiations, their union says.
CFMEU Northern Mining and NSW Energy division president Peter Jordan said yesterday that the further round of industrial action was endorsed unanimously endorsed at a mass meeting at Singleton last Thursday.
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Mr Jordan said the main area of contention was the workforce's desire to be paid "as if work" when leave entitlements were calculated.
"Currently, permanent night shift workers are left hundreds of dollars a week out of pocket on sick, long service or annual leave, as they are paid at day rates," Mr Jordan said.
He said the issue of leave entitlements for shift-workers at Rix's Creek had been a matter of great concern for many years and workers were determined to fix it.
He said the union's traditionally good relationship with the family-owned Bloomfield Group had deteriorated in recent years.
"Dealing with Bloomfield Collieries is now no different to dealing with a Glencore or Whitehaven," Mr Jordan said.
"Bloomfield shouldn't underestimate the unity and determination of workers to have the issue of 'leave paid as at work' addressed in full in their next enterprise agreement."
A Bloomfield spokesperson said negotiations would resume today and "we remain committed to following the process and reaching a fair and mutually beneficial outcome".
The dispute was listed in the Fair Work Commission on Friday before Deputy President Tony Saunders in Newcastle.
Bloomfield told its workers it had applied to the commission for a conciliation hearing "to resolve this dispute in order for all parties to be clear on what is the correct way".
Bloomfield has also announced an Easter closure at its Bloomfield open-cut near Maitland from Friday, April 2 to Monday, April 12.
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