By Shannon Wood and David Prestipino
The Indian owners of Collie coal mining giant Griffin Coal has announced the company has gone into receivership.
Lanco Infratech Limited made the announcement on Thursday in a statement released to the Indian stock exchange.
Griffin Coal employees and their families express their fears at a recent community meeting over the pay cuts.Credit: Collie Mail
Lanco Infratech Limited confirmed their lenders had appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services as receivers and managers.
The shock news comes after troubled times at the Collie mine.
There were protests last September against Lanco by the local Collie community against changes to workers conditions at the coal company.
In June, the Fair Work Commission approved a decision that saw 70 maintenance workers receive a 43 per cent pay cut and shifts change to seven days on and three days off and seven nights on and four days off.
Protesters told the Collie Mail the new shifts had put unnecessary strain on local families.
"These workers might as well be doing FIFO," one protester said.
"The time they spend away from their families works out to be much the same and it's not healthy.
"The women are left at home to pick up the family slack while the men slave away, unsure how safe their next pay check is.
"You have to worry for their mental health."
Another protester voiced serious concerns about safety standards at the mine site.
"Sooner rather than later someone is going to die and Griffin Coal will have blood on their hands," the protester said.
"Lanco is an Indian company forcing Australian workers to do their job at Indian work standards."
News of Griffin's demise came as WA Energy Minister Ben Wyatt confirmed the impending closure of Collie's Muja AB power station by September next year.
WA's largest electricity provider, Synergy, formalised its plans to reduce its non-renewable generation capacity to address over supply in the market.
The plans to reduce generation capacity were announced by the previous government in April 2016.
Mr Wyatt said the refurbishment of Muja power station was one of the "Liberal National Government's biggest debacles" but said the McGowan Government would work with the Collie community to ensure their is job growth in the future.
"This is certainly not the end for thermal or gas-fired generation which remains critical sources of base-load generation," he said.
"There is a need for a balanced mix of energy generation sources and the State Government is working with industry to transition generation in WA which will be undertaken responsibly."