Mining strike could affect the price of coal By Kim Honan and Jennifer Huxley Thursday, 24/05/2012
1 There's a chance the price of coal could rise if the industrial dispute at six BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) coal mines in Queensland's Bowen Basin drags on. Workers are back on strike today, continuing an 18-month dispute between the mining giant and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU). More than 80 per cent of workers rejected BMA's latest enterprise bargaining agreement offer. Last minute negotiations between union officials and the company yesterday failed to prevent the latest round of week-long strikes. But resources analyst Gavin Wendt says if there's to be industrial action in the coal mining sector, now is probably the best time to have it. "From BHP's perspective, the last thing you'd want is industrial action when demand is strong and you're selling every tonne of coal that you can possibly produce and prices are high," he said. "That's not the situation at the moment. Of course, demand has been weakening off and prices are been somewhat soft compared to where they were in the past." BMA says that industrial action continues in spite of the fact that the last 12 months of rolling strikes has achieved nothing other than to cause harm to its employees, communities and the business. The company says it will in good faith continue to make itself available for further bargaining meetings despite the continuing industrial action. Mr Wendt says there may be fallout from ongoing industrial action at the BMA mines. "If there's a perception amongst consumers of coal in Asia that this really has no light at the end of the tunnel in terms of some sort of resolution, then it's likely that traders and end consumers will start to get a little bit nervous," he said. "They've been fortunate in that there's been plenty of supply around and demand has been easing. "I think Asian buyers have pulled back from the market, but industrial action could well be the trigger for some of these end consumers starting to come back into the market to start to accumulate, in anticipation of prices potentially going higher if indeed this dispute does drag on." The Queensland president of the CFMEU, Steve Smyth, says he's disappointed with BMA's attitude at yesterday's meeting, the first since workers rejected the company's latest EBA offer. "We would have thought they would be in a position to actually want to start negotiating, but they come to the table and it appears that the second huge overwhelming no vote has done nothing to actually get them to want to start negotiation in good faith." More than 3,000 workers are on strike at BMA's Saraji, Peak Downs, Broadmeadow, Goonyella Riverside, Gregory Crinum and Blackwater mine sites. BMA shut down its Norwich Park Mine, south of Dysart, earlier this month.
