Solid Energy's claims that the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union is "irresponsible" shows the company has failed to recognise its workers' issues says the union.

The State Owned Enterprise is running advertising tomorrow attacking the union for the strike action despite the fact the action was democratically decided by the 1000 members involved in it.

EPMU assistant national secretary Ged O'Connell says Solid Energy needs to come to terms with the fact workers are unhappy and start working to fix the situation.

"Solid Energy is out of touch with its workers and it needs to understand that they're on strike because they're not happy with the company's offer and have made a democratic decision to make this clear.

"Given we're in regular contact with Solid Energy's management and we've heard nothing about us being irresponsible before we can only conclude they're pitching this story now to try to avoid taking the blame for what is becoming a protracted dispute.

"Our members have made it clear to us that they will continue their strike action as is their right but we are still keen to get to the table and sort a deal out.

"We take no joy in seeing Solid Energy lose money or in seeing our members go without pay and we'd urge the company to start bargaining in good faith so we can fix this and both sides can get back to business as usual."

The four mines involved in the dispute are Huntly's Rotowaro and Huntly East mines, Stockton mine near Westport, and the Spring Creek mine near Greymouth.

All mines are covered by the same multi-employer collective agreement and are fully unionised, which means all of Solid Energy's production has come to a halt. The industrial action enters its third week tomorrow.