New Zealand colliery discharged work force

Most of the remaining work force at a New Zealand colliery where 29 miners died in an explosion last month were discharged Tuesday in a move unions said was a cruel blow before Christmas. Receiver Price water house Coopers said 114 of the 157 employees at Pike River Coal would be made redundant immediately as the mine struggles to cope with the financial fall out from the disaster.

The redundancies were “a cruel blow just a couple of weeks before the Christmas holiday”,The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union’s national secretary Andrew Little told Radio New Zealand.The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union which represents New Zealand’s mining sector, said it was concerned they would be left out of pocket ,John Fisk  of the Price water house Coopers said the workers, whose colleagues were trapped when an explosion tore through the mine on November 19 and confirmed dead after another blast five days later, were entitled to a maximum payout of 18,700 dollars, which is  $14,040 in U.S. money.

Pike River the largest share holder New Zealand Oil & Gas called in the receivers Monday, saying the mine had debts that exceeded its funding and was “rapidly facing insolvency”. Local mayor Tony Kokshoorn said businesses that contributed to the massive rescue operation may never be paid for their services because PwC had classified them as unsecured creditors.” A lot of them on good faith went up the mountain. They assumed if the police were operating a search and rescue operation they would be paid back,” he told the New Zealand Herald, adding some businesses were owed 50,000 dollars.