The history of miners in Australia

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Striking miners expect 5,000 at Sydney protest
By Richard Macey, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 July 1997. More than 200 workers from Rio Tinto's Hunter Valley No.1 mine, on strike since June 10, met yesterday on their picket line to confirm their determination to fight the company's plans for individual work contracts and the winding back of union power.
Australian mine strike relaunched; Rio Tinto scuppers truce. Profits and coal supplies at risk?
ICEM Update, 11 September 1997. Strike action resumed at Australia's Hunter Valley No. 1 coalmine after global minerals giant Rio Tinto spurned official efforts to broker a continued truce.
Rio Tinto: Australian coalmine disputes escalate: Knock-on effects in Asia as supplies dwindle?
ICEM Update, 1 October 1997. Workers protest in Sydney against union-busting by Rio Tinto, the world's biggest private mining corporation.
Union win to Australian Federal Court blow to government plan
ICEM Update, 6 November 1998. The Federal Court quashed a decision of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission which denied the workers at Rio Tinto's Hunter Valley No. 1 Coal Mine in New South Wales access to arbitration to resolve a long running enterprise bargaining dispute. Workers now have access to arbitration for resolution of the dispute.
Miners fight price-cutters' global threat to jobs
The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions, ICEM Update, 15 December 1998. Australia's 48-hour coal strike by the CFMEU was an overwhelming success, but just the first shot in a campaign against the disastrous price-cutting practices of Australian coal producers.
Rio Tinto: Australian miners reject anti-union deal: World's unions call for talks
ICEM Update, 26 March 1999. Australian miners yesterday turned down an anti-union package offered by Rio Tinto, the world's biggest mining corporation. The miners' international, the ICEM, immediately urged Rio Tinto to open talks on a worldwide agreement to protect union rights and other human rights in the company's operations everywhere.
Australian miners' victory: strike forces debt pay-off
ICEM Update, 19 August 1999. In a victory for the CFMEU, workers from the closed-down Oakdale mine are now to receive the 6.3 million Australian dollars owed to them in entitlements. This decision followed a 24-hour nationwide coal strike over the Oakdale case.