MINERS have protested outside the Chinese Consulate in Sydney against the sacking of 79 coal miners from the Chinese Government owned Austar Colliery.
The Austar mine is the only international coal operation owned by the Chinese Government outside China.
Northern District CFMEU Mining and Energy president Ian Murray, whose members are being retrenched at Austar, said that the Union is determined to fight for these jobs.
“We’ll be carrying protest placards in English and Chinese and we will be delivering a strong letter of protest for the Consul to pass on to the Chinese Government,” Ian Murray said.
“We don’t accept that forced redundancies are justified and we will be getting that message across loud and clear.”
The CFMEU has raised the issue with the NSW Government and Mines Minister Ian MacDonald who had expressed opposition to forced retrenchments, according to Murray.