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Speaker 1: You may or may not have heard the news that

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Speaker 1: there's been a decision by Rio Tinto to make twenty

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Speaker 1: eight people working out at the go Of refinery redundant. Now,

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Speaker 1: the Electrical Trade Union say that members received notice that

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Speaker 1: their employment at the refinery would be terminated after twenty

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Speaker 1: eight days, with some members having worked on site for

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Speaker 1: over twenty years. Joining us on the line right now

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Speaker 1: is the Electrical Trade Union organizer Dave Hayes, also known

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Speaker 1: as Strabes. Good morning to you, Strawbs.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katy, and good morning to the bustiness mate.

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Speaker 1: When did the union receive this letter and find out

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Speaker 1: that this was going to happen for these staff.

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Speaker 2: So, Katie, on the nineteenth of March, our members over

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Speaker 2: there were advised of a proposed significant change their working

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Speaker 2: arrangements and that triggers a consultation process which has been

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Speaker 2: undertaken now and the final decision of that could lead

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Speaker 2: to all these members made redundant in as soon as

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Speaker 2: a month. So we're currently having those discussions. And the

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Speaker 2: big part about this, Katie, is only a couple of

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Speaker 2: months ago, Rio had stood up in front of their

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Speaker 2: workforce and said the mindlight will be there till twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty nine, and that would be the closure of the Mind.

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Speaker 2: So people were working towards those dates, and to have

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Speaker 2: this abrupt announcement thrown on them now is pretty bloody average,

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Speaker 2: to be honest.

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Speaker 1: So you know, I'm assuming that they're feeling quite blindsided

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Speaker 1: at this point. If they were thinking that the Mind

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Speaker 1: was going to be you know, wrapping up in twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty nine, I mean, that's still a few years away.

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Speaker 1: So I'm assuming they're feeling quite blindsided right now.

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Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely, Katie. I mean people were making plans, you know,

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Speaker 2: for a couple of years ahead. But you know, they've

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Speaker 2: got kids in school. We've got members there who have

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Speaker 2: younger adult children who have undertaken apprenticeships this year. They're

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Speaker 2: relying on the accommodation that they have as part of

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Speaker 2: their role with their partners. Have got jobs, you know,

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Speaker 2: whether it's be in health, in aboriginal corporations, all those

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Speaker 2: sorts of things. And to have this traine on them,

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Speaker 2: with this short notice and the potential yeah, severe outcome

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Speaker 2: is a real issue for us.

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Speaker 1: Storms. How long have some of these workers lived out there.

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Speaker 2: Probably our longest term is forty years. Forty years then

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Speaker 2: so yep. So we've had people there since the eighties,

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Speaker 2: some of the sparky and then you've got the other

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Speaker 2: cohort of our sparkys that are they're people that were

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Speaker 2: born and bred and go and have grown up in

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Speaker 2: Gove and done their apprenticeships and the whole lot there,

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Speaker 2: and they've got young families and go. Now we've got

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Speaker 2: a couple of people that are having children, you know,

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Speaker 2: June July this year, and the effect on them is huge.

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Speaker 2: So it's a real issue and what we what we

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Speaker 2: need to see is is a staged approach to this.

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Speaker 2: When the refinery shut down some years ago, there was

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Speaker 2: actually a staged approach put in place where people could

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Speaker 2: start to plan and work out their lives ahead and

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Speaker 2: then leave town as their jobs were gone. And the

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Speaker 2: other big problem here, Katie, is the jobs that are

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Speaker 2: pen to be to be taken over by contractors. These

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Speaker 2: jobs that our members currently do will remain in place

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Speaker 2: until my enclosure, So the work is there until that time,

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Speaker 2: and we look in the outsource that work for contractors.

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Speaker 1: So they're still going to have people doing these jobs

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Speaker 1: that the other crew your members have been doing for

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Speaker 1: years and years.

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Speaker 2: In some cases, absolutely, Katie, and we see some knock

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Speaker 2: on effects from that. You know, obviously, over and Go

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Speaker 2: there's notorious for power outages and the skills, the skills

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Speaker 2: of our workers and you know, the knowledge of the

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Speaker 2: systems that's been gained over the years help those people

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Speaker 2: get the power back on in the shortest period as

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Speaker 2: possible and without them involved in those roles and in

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Speaker 2: those jobs. We fear that we're going to see potential

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Speaker 2: longer outages in Go and the effect of the community

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Speaker 2: surrounding the township itself is going to be significant.

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Speaker 1: It will be in so many ways, you know, like

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Speaker 1: as a girl who grew up in Mount iSER and

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Speaker 1: knowing that even what they're doing there in Mount Isa

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Speaker 1: with the mines, like I guess we all know that

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Speaker 1: that no matter what you're mining, there is different different

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Speaker 1: lifespans of those minds. But when they begin winding up,

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Speaker 1: and when they wind up, the impact that that has

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Speaker 1: on a town is just astronomical. And you know, some

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Speaker 1: of the other services that are available to the community,

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Speaker 1: you know, even when you look at things like Woolworths

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Speaker 1: they're in go of I mean, is stuff like that

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Speaker 1: going to continue? Like what are you guys being told,

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Speaker 1: what are you members being told?

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Speaker 2: Look Katie on all that you know, they've got the

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Speaker 2: Go Fat Futures reference group, They've got Developers, daranam Land,

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Speaker 2: all those groups that are been stood up to start

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Speaker 2: to transition to the Mind closure. This announcement today just

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Speaker 2: puts all those plans we believe in jeopardy or turns

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Speaker 2: them upside down. If we are making decisions without consulting

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Speaker 2: with the community and the groups and the effect of

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Speaker 2: their decisions. You know, our members partners working in woolies,

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Speaker 2: they work for the car hire place, they work in

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Speaker 2: the hospital, they work in the childcare centers. You know,

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Speaker 2: the effect of not having a planned approach and the

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Speaker 2: knock on effect of the community is huge. And these

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Speaker 2: these groups that have been stood up are all about,

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Speaker 2: you know, the transition to get the best outcomes for

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Speaker 2: the community in the future. We have a number of

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Speaker 2: members who plan to spend the rest of their lives

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Speaker 2: and go once the Mind Closed, to transition into other

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Speaker 2: roles in the community, and all that's up in the

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Speaker 2: air and there with this potential decision that's going to

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Speaker 2: be made.

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Speaker 1: Straws on a real personal note made, how are those

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Speaker 1: workers feeling today.

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Speaker 2: Well, they are absolutely knocked around, Katie. I worked in

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Speaker 2: Go for seven or eight years in the early two thousands,

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Speaker 2: and I know all these people really well. And yeah,

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Speaker 2: you can imagine the conversations at the dinner table over

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Speaker 2: the last couple of weeks and the uncertainty that they've

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Speaker 2: they've got ahead of them when they just had it

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Speaker 2: announced that there's four or five years my life left

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Speaker 2: and people were planning for that transition. So yeah, there's

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Speaker 2: there's some pretty knocked around people over there, Coatie.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, look, I really feel for them. Hey, and you know,

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Speaker 1: I understand that, you know, the mind's coming to it

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Speaker 1: to its end. I get that, But you know, then

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Speaker 1: for it to be a really abrupt end for these workers,

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Speaker 1: some of whom who've been there for a huge part

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Speaker 1: of their working lives, jeez, it'd feel like you'd just

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Speaker 1: received a big kick in the guts.

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Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely, Cadie. And you have these companies like Rio,

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Speaker 2: they have all their the big mission statements about integrity

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Speaker 2: and care and all those sort of things, and that

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Speaker 2: seems to just go out the window in situations like

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Speaker 2: this when they should be actually caring for their people

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Speaker 2: and helping in that transition and some certainty on people's futures.

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Speaker 2: So we'll continue to pursue our conversations with Rad you know,

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Speaker 2: and happy to keep in touch on where this head.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, please do, Strawbes, I'd appreciate it, mate, And let

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Speaker 1: all those workers know we are thinking of them. Like

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Speaker 1: I say, I know, we all understand that mine's come

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Speaker 1: to an end, and look, I just think of the

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Speaker 1: you know, the way that it will impact that town

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Speaker 1: and the way that it's impacting all of these families.

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Speaker 1: So let them know we're thinking of them, and please

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Speaker 1: do keep in contact.

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Speaker 2: We will. Thanks for your interest, Coatie, thank you.

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Speaker 1: Thanks mate,