Multinational mining companies' management of employment relations in "greenfield mines" : evidence from Papua New Guinea

Abstract

This paper provides evidence from mining development in Papua New Guinea (PNG), which points out that management of employment relations in 'greenfield' mines, is no where near to the conventionality of management of mine workers in other parts of the world. The challenging part of establishment of an employment relations system is immediately felt in the recruitment stage where local and government level influence come into play with the policies of multinational mining companies (MNMCs). Together with the acute issues of dual pay, trade union recognition, commuter mode of mine operation and host of other issues place a lot of strain on an already constrained employment relations system. It also discusses MNMCs' perceptions and attitudes to the development and maintenance of employment relations system is the product of what actually prevails in the 'greenfield' mines. Further, the manipulation of cooperation and conflict in the context of employment relations and imperative to operate profitable and efficient mines inevitably allows MNMCs to have an accommodative character for living in two worlds in the PNG 'greenfield' mines. The paper concludes that this strategy is forested and maintained through the annoyance and sometimes disapproval of the national proletariat in the greenfield mines