Management — Labor Relations

On December 31, 2018, the Company had approximately 7,400 employees worldwide, including approximately 5,600 hourly employees; the employee amounts exclude employees that were employed at operations classified as discontinued operations. Approximately 42% of those hourly employees were represented by organized labor unions and were employed by mines that generated 20% of the Company’s 2018 coal production from continuing operations. In the U.S., two mines are represented by an organized labor union. In Australia, the coal mining industry is unionized and the majority of hourly workers employed at the Company’s Australian mining operations are members of trade unions. The Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union generally represents the Company’s Australian subsidiaries’ hourly production and engineering employees, including those employed through contract mining relationships. The Company believes labor relations with its employees are good. Should that condition change, the Company could experience labor disputes, work stoppages or other disruptions in production that could negatively impact the Company’s results of operations and cash flows.

The following table presents the Company’s active mining operations as of December 31, 2018 in which the employees are represented by organized labor unions:



Mine		Current Agreement Expiration Date

U.S.
Kayenta ⁽¹⁾		September 2019
Shoal Creek ⁽²⁾		April 2021
Australia
Owner-operated mines:
Wambo Open-Cut ⁽³⁾		December 2018
Wambo Underground ⁽³⁾		March 2021
North Goonyella ⁽⁴⁾		December 2018
Metropolitan ⁽⁵⁾		January 2021
Millennium ⁽⁶⁾		March 2019
Wilpinjong ⁽⁷⁾		May 2020
Coppabella ⁽⁸⁾		June 2021
Moorvale ⁽⁹⁾		June 2020


⁽¹⁾	Hourly workers at the Company’s Kayenta Mine in Arizona are represented by the UMWA under the Western Surface Agreement, which is effective through September 16, 2019. This agreement covers approximately 7% of the Company’s U.S. subsidiaries’ hourly employees, who generated approximately 4% of the Company’s U.S. production during the year ended December 31, 2018.

⁽²⁾

Hourly workers at the Company’s Shoal Creek Mine in Alabama are represented by the UMWA under the Shoal Creek Wage Agreement, which is effective through April 1, 2021. This agreement covers approximately 9% of the Company’s U.S. subsidiaries’ hourly employees. The Company acquired the Shoal Creek Mine on December 3, 2018, as further described in Note 3. “Acquisition of Shoal Creek Mine”.

⁽³⁾

Employees of the Wambo Open-Cut Mine operate under a separate enterprise agreement which expired in December 2018. Negotiations for a new agreement are progressing as planned with only a few outstanding matters to be negotiated. Negotiations are expected to conclude in the first quarter of 2019. There were no wage increases over the three-year term of the current labor agreement. Employees of the Company's Wambo Underground Mine operate under a separate labor agreement. That new agreement will expire in March 2021. There have been no disruptions in the mine’s operations during the negotiations. The Wambo coal handling and preparation plant hourly employees are under a separate labor agreement that expired in December 2018. The Company negotiated a new three-year agreement with employees in December 2018, which is currently going through an approval process with the Fair Work Commission. Hourly employees of these mines comprise approximately 23% of the Company’s Australian subsidiaries’ hourly employees, who generated approximately 18% of the Company’s Australian production during the year ended December 31, 2018.

⁽⁴⁾

Employees of the North Goonyella Mine operate under a separate labor agreement which expired in December 2018. Negotiations for an extension of the existing agreement until December 2019 are progressing and are expected to conclude in the first quarter of 2019. Hourly employees of this mine comprise approximately 8% of the Company’s Australian subsidiaries’ hourly employees, who generated approximately 5% of the Company’s Australian production during the year ended December 31, 2018.

⁽⁵⁾

Employees of the Company’s Metropolitan Mine operate under a separate labor agreement, which expires in January 2021. There is also a deputy labor agreement which expired in September 2015. The parties have concluded negotiations in December 2018 for a new three-year agreement and is awaiting approval from the Fair Work Commission. There have been no disruptions to the mine’s operations as a result of the negotiations. Hourly employees of this mine comprise approximately 12% of the Company’s Australian subsidiaries’ hourly employees, who generated approximately 6% of the Company’s Australian production during the year ended December 31, 2018.

⁽⁶⁾

The existing two-year labor agreement for Millennium Mine expires in March 2019. The negotiations for an extension of the current agreement through the end of 2019 will commence in the first quarter of 2019. Hourly employees of this mine comprise approximately 1% of the Company’s Australian subsidiaries’ hourly employees, who generated approximately 6% of the Company’s Australian production during the year ended December 31, 2018.


⁽⁷⁾	In May 2017, the Company entered into a new three-year labor agreement for Wilpinjong Mine which expires in May 2020. The new agreement has minimal wage increases. Hourly employees of this mine comprise approximately 23% of the Company’s Australian subsidiaries’ hourly employees, who generated approximately 48% of the Company’s Australian production during the year ended December 31, 2018.

⁽⁸⁾

Employees of the Company’s Coppabella Mine operate under a separate enterprise agreement. The Company successfully negotiated a new three-year term agreement that will expire in June 2021. There were no disruptions to the mine’s operations as a result of the negotiations. Hourly employees of this mine comprise approximately 20% of the Company’s Australian subsidiaries’ hourly employees, who generated approximately 9% of the Company’s Australian production during the year ended December 31, 2018.

⁽⁹⁾

Employees of the Company’s Moorvale Mine operate on individual contracts underpinned by a non-union enterprise agreement. Employees are managed according to their individual contracts rather than the enterprise agreement. In July 2017, all employees signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing to a rollover of the existing enterprise agreement until June 2020. The Moorvale coal handling and preparation plant hourly employees operate under a separate labor agreement which expires in October 2019. Negotiations for a new agreement will commence in the third quarter of 2019. Hourly employees of this mine comprise approximately 14% of the Company’s Australian subsidiaries’ hourly employees, who generated approximately 7% of the Company’s Australian production during the year ended December 31, 2018.