By Rachel Shisei – EMTVNews, Lae
National workers at the Ramu Nickel Mine resumed work today, following assurance from the Department of Industrial Relations, and the Mine’s Management, that the workers’ 11 point petition will be considered.
The conference that’s will hopefully see an agreement passed by all parties today, if the 11 points on the worker’s petition was agreed or disagreed on, was postponed to February 1.
Nonetheless, the national workers through their Union President, Justin Mende, said they will stop work again if their petition is not addressed by the next set date.
“I still maintain that we (the national workers) have followed all the due processes and laws to stop work and address this issues affecting us, and if the Union has broken any laws then that will depend on the outcome of the legal interpretation,” said Mende.
The cause of the strike is said to have followed the death of a national worker on night shift at the mine site, on December 29, 2015.
“The safety and the security compliances at the work place is a serious concern and when I say serious I mean very serious, we should’ve got the government to shut down the mine but we didn’t,” Mende said.
The Worker’s Union said the 11 points on the petition to the mine’s management were the workers concerns about the treatment, safety requirements and security measures over the term of six years.
