Barry Fitzgerald, Roy Hill iron ore mine’s chief executive, says wages rose during resources boom but they were no longer sustainable.
Australia’s richest woman, Gina Rinehart, wants employees at her Roy Hill iron ore project in Western Australia to accept pay cuts so job losses can be avoided.
Barry Fitzgerald, Roy Hill’s chief executive, said pay cuts would reduce the potential for future redundancies.
“We felt it was more important for our people to retain their job rather than pursue workforce reductions as a cost-saving strategy in response to market conditions,” he said.
The resources boom had raised salaries to unsustainable levels, and cutting salaries was a prudent measure to keep the company competitive over the long term, he said.
Salary reductions will range between 5% and 10%, with executive and senior management taking the biggest cut.
But there will be no salary reductions for existing employees in lower remuneration bands, which accounts for half the Roy Hill workforce.
Fitzgerald said the company wanted to keep as many people in jobs as possible.
Construction of the mine was more than 85% complete and first exports remained on track to start by the end of September, Roy Hill said.
When it is operating the mine will have a peak workforce of about 2,000 people.
Source: www.theguardian.com |
