Traditional owners say they deserve better than Adani’s current promise to hire Indigenous workers for its multi-billion-dollar coal mine in central Queensland.
The Indian mining giant has agreed that at least 7 per cent of its workforce will be made up of Indigenous people. But Jangga elder Colin McLennan said he wanted that figure to be higher.
“If we can get 30 per cent or 100 per cent … we like to try get as many people as we can into the workforce,” he said. With Adani taking over direct control of the project late last year, Mr McLennan said he believed they could convince the company to hire more Indigenous workers.
“We’ve got plenty of leverage to get that, and with some of the big players out of the project a lot of it’ll come our way, that’s what we’re hoping.”
Hundreds of people are taking part in training programs for work on Adani’s railway line between the Abbot Point coal terminal and its coal mine in the Galilee Basin.
For the rest of this article: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-24/adani-indigenous-groups-call-for-bigger-share-of-jobs/9353042