Mr Fitzgibbon asked the Minister for Workplace Relations and Small Business, upon notice, on 14 May 1998:

(1) Has he been involved in the continuing dispute at the Gordonstone Mine in Central Queensland which is operated by Gordonstone Coal Management Pty Ltd (GCM) and owned by Atlantic Richfield Oil Company (ARCO).

(2) Did ARCO sack all its Gordonstone workforce and attempt to replace it with a new workforce.

(3) Did the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union take the dispute to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC); if so, did the AIRC (a) find that the dismissals were a provocative and unnecessary attempt to avoid the seniority provision in the enterprise agreement governing the reduction of hands at the mine and (b) note that (i) until mid-1996 Gordonstone coal miners had achieved record production levels for which the company had rewarded them and (ii) the declining performance of the mine from late 1996 was the result of the GCM's industrial relations strategy which was aimed at avoiding the provisions of the enterprise agreement.

(4) If he has not been involved in the dispute will he (a) urge ARCO to reemploy its sacked workforce immediately and (b) advise it that provocative and unnecessary assaults on the industrial conditions of Australian workers will not be tolerated.

Mr Reith (Workplace Relations and Small Business) —The answer to the honourable member's question is as follows:

(1) No.

(2) On 1 October 1997, Gordonstone Coal Management Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of ARCO Coal Australia Inc, retrenched all of its 312 production and engineering employees and placed the mine on an indefinite care and maintenance program.

I am advised that the company advertised for 30 temporary positions to undertake a limited trial production of new work practices in November 1997. However, it did not proceed with this step in light of the decision by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) to make an interim award in relation to the recruitment of its former employees.

(3) The CFMEU made applications to the AIRC on behalf of 282 of the former employees under s170CE(1) of the Workplace Relations Act 1996 claiming unfair termination of employment.

(a) On 2 February 1998, Hingley C decided that the termination of the seven `representative' employees was harsh, unjust and unreasonable. The Commissioner stated that "the decision to terminate, to avoid LIFO [last on first off] obligations was provocative and unnecessary given that the Enterprise Agreement provided alternatives by agreement and, in clause 21, a Problem Resolution Procedure with ultimate referral to the Commission for determination, and in any event it had a nominal expiry date of April 1998".

(b) (i) In his decision, Hingley C stated that "over a couple of years up until May 1996, [Gordonstone Coal Management] rewarded employees with stickers, caps and shirts inscribed with messages and logos and a bonus system, recognising Australian record production levels".

(ii)In his decision, Hingley C also stated that, by August 1996, "industrial relationships appear to have gone into a fatal and irreconcilable decline and as a consequence production, safety levels and productivity were detrimentally affected".

(4) (a) Decisions about whether or not to recruit employees and how many to recruit are matters for the owners and operators of the mine.

(b) I expect all employers, employees and unions to comply with all relevant laws, including the Workplace Relations Act 1996, and to comply with decisions of tribunals made pursuant to the law.