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A large inflatable "fat cat" has become a widely recognised symbol of the campaign, representing the contrast between corporate profits and local job uncertainty (hi res image available for media use).

Origin Delivers Solid Half-Year Result as Myuna Job Security Remains Unresolved

The Joint Union Campaign to Save Myuna Jobs

The joint union campaign to Save Myuna Jobs says Origin Energy’s strong half-year financial results today sharpen questions about why the company continues to refuse a sustainable coal supply agreement that would keep 300 direct mining jobs and more than a thousand flow-on roles alive in the Lake Macquarie and Hunter region.

Unions argue that Origin’s public suggestion that a break-even arrangement to preserve regional employment would materially inflate electricity bills sits uneasily alongside the company’s financial strength, steady dividends to shareholders, and its choice to extend Eraring Power Station’s operations.

Mining and Energy Union Northern Mining and NSW Energy District President Robin Williams said:

“When a company announces very large profits at the same time hundreds of regional jobs are at risk from a decision entirely within its commercial control, people are entitled to question whether community responsibility was ever really part of the equation.”

Electrical Trades Union NSW Secretary Allen Hicks said the issue was not resistance to energy transition, but the need for a planned and orderly pathway.

“Workers and communities who have powered this state for decades deserve certainty and a transition that is predictable and fair, not sudden decisions that leave them stranded.”

Collieries’ Staff and Officials Association Director Robert Coluccio said confidence in transition planning was at risk.

“Workers in the Hunter and Lake Macquarie regions have been promised an orderly transition. Decisions that strand skilled workforces without viable alternatives undermine confidence not just in companies, but in the transition itself.”

Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union NSW Secretary Brad Pidgeon said the consequences extended beyond the mine gate.

“Privatised energy assets still carry public consequences, and decisions taken in boardrooms flow directly into regional towns, apprenticeships and family livelihoods.”

The campaign is calling on Origin, Centennial and government stakeholders to reach a time-bound, commercially sustainable agreement that keeps Myuna operating alongside Eraring and provides genuine certainty for workers and their families through the remainder of the power station’s operating life, while planning a fair transition beyond it.

A Joint Campaign Spokesperson said workers and their families should not be the ones carrying the stress of prolonged commercial uncertainty while profitable corporations debate terms.

They said recent movement in negotiations had only occurred because of sustained organising by workers and the broader community, not because the situation was ever commercially impossible to resolve.

“These are families who have done everything asked of them: turned up, worked safely and powered the state. What they are asking for now is not special treatment, but basic fairness and certainty about their future.”


Contact details:

Emily Holm

M 0400 382 271 E [email protected]