15 February 2011 -- News Release

EPMU calls on Govt to assist fund legal representation at Pike River inquiry

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), which is the union that represents miners, is calling on the government to provide support for its legal representation in the Pike River Royal Commission of Inquiry.

The call follows the government’s announcement it will now fund families’ and contractors’ legal representation costs to allow them to participate in the inquiry.

“The EPMU has a material stake in the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Pike River coal mine disaster and has represented underground miners’ interests for the past 100 years,” says EPMU national secretary Andrew Little.

“The union has been the main champion for health and safety improvements in underground mining during that time,” says Andrew Little.

“In 2008 the union responded to the call for submissions on a government review of health and safety in underground mining.”

“Eleven of the coal miners killed after the Pike River mine explosion on 19 November 2010 were union members. Any one of the 65 workers employed at the mine who were members of the EPMU could have been a victim if they had been working underground on 19 November.”

“The Government has overlooked the union’s legitimate interest in all of this.”

“Why else would our members be left to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal costs to allow the union to participate in a Royal Commission of Inquiry in which it is imperative to represent its members’ health and safety interests?”

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