The BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) has announced that it will replace around 300 of its permanent workforce with contractors at its Blackwater mine in central Queensland.
BMA however said that there will be no forced redundancies from the replacement.
However, according to CFMEU Mining and Energy Queensland district president Steve Smyth the decision will damage the community in Blackwater.
He also accused BMA of seeking for cheap and compliant workforce that could be sacked at short notice.
Smyth said: "BHP wants to remove full time, permanent employees who live locally and replace them with contractors who have no job security, will receive less pay, and have inferior working conditions compared to current BHP employees under their enterprise agreement.
"Communities across the Bowen Basin have already been ripped apart by BHP’s deliberate strategy to lock local workers out of jobs, undercut wages and conditions and destroy the idea of permanent employment.
"Mineworkers and their families at Blackwater have been plunged into deep uncertainty about their futures today because of this announcement and the CFMEU’s attention is firmly on providing support to our members who will be affected."