Let me share a story from 1996 that taught me one of the most valuable lessons of my career. Picture this: I’m at Drayton Coal when suddenly, the coal price plummets overnight. We went from a profitable operation to staring into the abyss. With 430 workers depending on us, the pressure was intense.
We had three options on the table: shut down completely, switch to contractors, or attempt a massive restructure. Now, here’s where it gets interesting. I remember sitting in my office, two phones on my desk. One would dial our lawyers in Sydney to prepare for lengthy court battles. The other would connect us to outplacement consultants in Sydney to build an employment centre in Muswellbrook.
I called a meeting with the union representatives and laid it out straight: “I’m going to make one of two phone calls today. You tell me which one it should be. We can spend our money fighting in courts, or we can invest it in helping people find new opportunities.”
The tension in that room was thick enough to cut with a knife. We were talking about reducing our workforce from 430 to 210 people – not the kind of conversation anyone wants to have. But here’s the remarkable part: while other mining companies like BHP and Rio were facing 16-week strikes, we didn’t lose a single day.
We built that employment centre in Muswellbrook. We worked together – management and unions – to help people transition, find new jobs, start businesses, or retrain. What started as a potential disaster became a masterclass in collaboration.
You know what still gets me about this story? It all came down to a choice between confrontation and cooperation. While other mines were battling it out in industrial warfare, we were helping our people build new futures.
Sometimes I drive past Muswellbrook and think about those two phones on my desk. What seemed impossible at first became a turning point for working collaboratively. It taught me that even in the toughest situations, there’s usually a path forward if you’re willing to put people first.
That’s the thing about industrial relations – sometimes your biggest crisis can become your proudest moment.
