Australian Mines Expect Weekend Strikes

Rolling strikes are expected to hit BHused crushing plants for sale in uaeP Billiton Ltd. and Mitsubishi Corp.'s Blackwater coking coal mine in northeastern Australia starting late Friday and then move on to six other mines, as the planned protest by unionized workers runs through next week, the mining giant and a union official said.

Strikes are also planned for the night shifts Saturday and Sunday and select shifts next week, ending with a strike at the Goonyella Riverside operations Thursday, said Stephen Smyth, district president of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union. CFMEU is one of three unions representing more than 3,000 workers locked in employment contract talks with the BHP-Mitsubishi Alliance. The action follows a series of six-hour strikes held by workers at six mines in Queensland state earlier this month. The companies and unions are deadlocked over demands for equal pay for contract workers and employees and a say by union representatives in recruitment, among other things. A spokeswoman for Melbourne-based BHP Billiton has said...