Ngakawau Riverwatch
Pete Lusk

Something unprecedented in the NZ union movement has occured among coal miners at Stockton on the West Coast.

Sick of the gross and disgusting pollution of the Ngakawau River that flows to the sea near their township, several mine workers intitiated a group to monitor and clean up the river.

Ngakawau Riverwatch quickly snowballed to around 300 members which shows how deeply local communities feel about acid mine drainage with attendant toxic metals, coal fines and other sediments which enter the river system from the open cast mines on the plateau above.

At least two of the workers who started Riverwatch have now lost their jobs. Union president Dave Reece says Solid Energy has made a point of getting rid of those who want the pollution cleaned up.

In years gone by, almost all mine workers lived in the coastal towns of Hector, Ngakawau and Granity. Now its around 10-15%. Reece says a worker with 'Christchurch' as his address has a far better chance of getting a job than a local.

Last week Ngakawau Riverwatch was one of several NGOs making submissions at the Hearing for a new mine (Cypress). As part of the presentation, Reece appeared in a video saying Solid Energy should be employing more local people. He also noted that mine workers who challenged the company over its pollution got fired.

This has caused him some strife from among the workforce. A letter to the Westport News claiming to be from a union member accused him of jeopardising miners jobs by his video appearance at the hearing. "I consider he has made a complete fool out of all union members", said the letter writer.

Reece replied that his opinion represented a consensus among miners who had previously discussed the issue at union meetings.."Our feelings are well known, we want more jobs for local people and that was my view on that video.." (True - it was the main point he made.)

He also noted that Ngakawau Riverwatch does not oppose mining but wants a guarantee that the new mine will not harm the environment. "My belief is, if you live in Granity, you are more likely to be concerned about what gets dumped into the river from up the hill." He added that he wants a new Cypress Mine and "the bigger the better".

Reece recently lost his job along with all other members of the union executive. This included one of the intiators of Riverwatch, Billy Tyler. It happened with the change from one mining contractor to another. The exec members were not offered jobs with the new contractor, so were effectively sacked.

This dirty trick annoyed the workforce, who showed their contempt for Solid Energy by keeping Reece on as union president.

Let's hope the miners continue to support him. The reason Ngakawau Riverwatch had to be formed is the absolutely gross nature of the pollution - the river runs black with coal after rain. However it is the heavy metals which are likely to be the biggest problem in the long term. Such nasties as lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium, nickel are extremely toxic and some accumulate up the food chain. Pollution of ground water will likely poison the springs which are the source of many people's drinking water in the coastal townships - it may already be the case.

You have to go to somewhere like Papua New Guinea to see river pollution this bad. In this sense the West Coast is the Third World manifested in NZ.

Notes:
1. An interesting aside to this story is that the national office of the union (Engineers Printers and Manufacturing Union - EPMU) has always given uncritical support to mining, no matter how destructive of the environment. Reece is president of the Stockton branch of this union so it will be interesting to know what head office thinks of the emergence of a green conscience within its ranks.
2. In the Westport News article mentioned above, Solid Energy spokeswoman Vicki Blythe said it would not comment on the video appearance of Dave Reece. But she is reported as saying 'Solid Energy negotiates with the collective employment union EPMU, not the Buller Miners Union. The EPMU represented the entire workforce at the mine', says the News.
What's going on here? It looks like a company tactic to divide and rule. From what I know the Buller Miners Union is the same as the EPMU. Certainly Reece calls himself president of the Stockton branch of EPMU. Maybe the company has created a new 'executive' to negotiate with. I'll have to check this out.
3. Solid Energy is the old State Coal department, reborn as a State-Owned Enterprise. Although an SOE is designed to act akin to a corporate, it's also supposed to show some social responsibility.
4. I know of one case in the USA where a coalition of unions backed the environmental campaign to stop George Bush opening up the Alaskan Wilderness for oil exploration. So 'green' unionism is not unheard of.