For Jimmy Baker, the shock of losing his job at Tahmoor Colliery is still sinking in.
“It’s been horrible,” he said.
“It’s living in limbo for the last 12 months and not knowing if you’re going to have a job tomorrow, the next day, the day after.
“Then to have it black and white that you no longer have a job, I’m gutted. Absolutely gutted.”
The mine, south-west of Sydney, has faced more than a year of financial turmoil under Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance.
Operations stopped in February last year and a winding-up application began in August, with the mine entering voluntary administration amid $250 million in related-party debt.
On February 6, the NSW Supreme Court placed it into liquidation and, on Wednesday, liquidators announced 238 permanent staff would be made redundant.
Mr Baker, who has worked at the mine for 22 years, was one of them.
The mine has been mothballed amid financial turmoil surrounding its ownership group. (ABC Illawarra: Brooke Chandler)
He had been part of a small maintenance crew still on site and said he was still on shift when the email arrived confirming his redundancy.
“I got an email while I was at work to say I’d been terminated,” he said.
“And then I had to work the next day because I was on shift.”
Mr Baker broke down as he described leaving the mine.
“To say goodbye to blokes and walk out of the place and drive over the hill … it was hard.”
On Friday, the Mining and Energy Union (MEU) held a day of support and information for workers, including guidance on a brief window offered by liquidators to either take six weeks’ unpaid leave while the mine’s sale is considered or accept immediate redundancy.
After more than a year of uncertainty, Mr Baker said he could not face more waiting.
“I won’t wait six weeks,” he said.
“It’s been enough to drag on as long as it has. I can’t take any more.”
Decades-long career ends abruptly
Martin Sawyer says he had waited on a decision for 14 months. (ABC Illawarra: Brooke Chandler)
For Martin Sawyer, the announcement marked the end of a career spanning more than four decades.
“It’s been my livelihood for 40-odd years,” he said.
“I have to go back today and pack my desk up, pack my toolbox up, pack my locker up and drive away, and I’m not happy about that at all.”
Mr Sawyer started at the mine as an apprentice and worked his way up through the ranks.
“I’m proud of the job I’ve done, and I just feel like a door has been slammed in my face.”
The final confirmation arrived in a late-night email.
“I received an email at 10 o’clock the other night,” he said.
“It was not something everyone wanted at that time of the night to go to sleep on knowing that there’s an email coming about your future.”
For months, Mr Sawyer said workers had been waiting for clarity.
“I’ve been sitting on my hands for about 14 months waiting for a decision.
“It’s a viable mine and I don’t understand why it’s got to this stage … our best year for tonnage was 2024.
“I put it down to greed. Simple as that.”
He said he and his colleagues were “numb”, adding that “for me personally … life has been put on hold”.
Workers say the situation is having a major impact on Tahmoor and surrounding towns. (ABC Illawarra: Brooke Chandler)
MEU South Western District secretary Andy Davey said the speed of the redundancies had left workers scrambling to understand their options.
“We’ve advised the members to potentially take six weeks’ leave without pay so that we can go through what’s happened and process what’s happened,” Mr Davey said.
Community rallies around affected workers
Wollondilly Mayor Matt Gould sat through information sessions and said he saw great despair.
“They’re being asked to make some very difficult decisions and it’s obviously a very stressful and very difficult time,” he said.
He said the community and some other businesses were trying to help miners find new work.
“We’ve had a number of people reaching out wanting to look at how they can employ them,” he said.
Karl Klein helped provide food for the affected workers. (ABC Illawarra: Brooke Chandler)
Outside the meeting, volunteers were cooking sausages and providing fruit for the workers, including Tahmoor Lions member Karl Klein, who said the situation had left the community feeling “unstable”.
“The mine was always our security,” he said.
“Everybody’s watching what they’re doing and watching their purse strings.
“We just want to help the community in whatever way we can.”