The ETU WA has accused BHP of importing “American Amazon-style tactics" into WA, warning the mining giant its lucrative Pilbara exports will ground to a halt if refuses to engage on wage disparities.
The ETU WA has accused BHP of importing “American Amazon-style tactics" into WA, warning the mining giant its lucrative Pilbara exports will ground to a halt if it refuses to engage on wage disparities.
Addressing media on what he labelled a "significant day in Western Australia's history," ETU WA State Secretary Adam Woodage said 100 per cent of the union’s members at the Port Hedland facility had endorsed taking protected industrial action.
According to the Fair Work Commission's published vote results, 42 out of 47 eligible voters from the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union voted in favour of the action, while 89 of the 102 eligible Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union members
The impending stoppages, which can range anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours, threaten to disrupt operations at the nation's largest bulk export port, which serves as BHP's sole shipping gateway for its Pilbara iron ore operations.
The union says workers are seeking an agreement that establishes clear classifications, enforceable conditions and parity between employees performing similar work and possessing similar experience. It argues workers at the port are currently employed on a range of individual contracts with differing terms and conditions.
A complete 24-hour stoppage would cost BHP between $100 million and $120 million, based on the company's average daily shopping rate of just under 800,000 tonnes.
Mr Woodage said despite the cost, the union would not back down from the action.
"We understand that it will cost up to BHP $120 million for a 24-hour stoppage at the BHP port, and we do not shy away from that, because the only thing that these big businesses understand is when their profit margins are hit.
“Our members again have endorsed this action. They're standing by the union, and we're standing by them."
Mr Woodage claimed the dispute had laid bare growing resentment over wage structures in the Pilbara.
According to the ETU, metropolitan infrastructure projects in Perth are now outpaying BHP port operations in Hedland, eroding the traditional financial incentive to work in the North West.
Mr Woodage said one metropolitan project was offering a salaries of $240,000 a year, a benchmark he said some BHP port workers were not paid.
"We've got members who are on low, lower wages than others,” he said.
“We've got members who have a $40,000 wage differential between someone that's doing the same job as them, between someone that's working alongside them day in day out on night shifts.
“There shouldn't be wage disparity of up to $40,000 in the Pilbara or anywhere for people doing the same job."
The ETU said any attempt to utilise strike-breakers will backfire severely within the Port Hedland community, where roughly 80 per cent of the operational workforce resides permanently.
A bulk carrier berthed at the Port of Port Hedland. Photo: Gabriel Oliviera.
The comments follow reports that labour hire firms have been recruiting electricians for work at Port Hedland as BHP prepares contingency plans for potential industrial action.
"Maybe that's why they went and spruiked out $120 million on putting new tiles on a pool and painting in a school to try and win favour or curry favour with the community, but I think the community will see through that if they engage in an alternative workforce,” he said.
“Bringing in an alternative workforce does not maintain a safe environment."
BHP has previously pointed to its past three decades of largely non-unionised operations in the Pilbara as evidence of a stable and functional workplace model.
However, Mr Woodage said BHP's resistance to localised collective bargaining was “purely ideological”, pointing to the company's unionised operations across its East Coast coal and copper assets.
A BHP spokesperson said the company would continue negotiating.
"Our focus remains on continuing constructive engagement to reach an outcome that maintains industry leading pay and conditions while supporting safe, productive and sustainable operations," the spokesperson said.
"In the event of union disruptions at our sites, we have strong contingency plans in place to protect our people and ensure safe, reliable operations can continue."
In a statement following the vote, Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Tania Constable said the threat of "militant unions" affecting Australia's minerals industry was now real.
"The resolution by the ETU and AMWU to inflict an unlimited number of stoppages at Port Hedland is an attack on productivity at one of Australia's most economically significant ports, which accounts for over 60 per cent of Australia's iron ore exports," she said.
"This return to industrial disruption weakens our national resilience, erodes our reputation as a reliable supplier and threatens the royalty and company tax flows that fund vital government services like police, hospitals and Medicare.
"Mining is Australia’s most productive industry in large part because of alignment of interests between investors, workers and companies. Today, this mutually beneficial workplace harmony is being threatened in the Pilbara iron ore sector.
"The Pilbara’s cooperative workplace model has delivered the highest wages of any industry, world-leading productivity and secure jobs through modern workplace arrangements.
"Rising disruption and escalating right of entry activity undermine the productivity and reliability that have defined the Pilbara region for more than three decades. Sustainable wages that keep pace with cost of living pressures depend on maintaining a globally competitive industry – not on a return to industrial conflict."
Mr Woodage said if BHP failed to present an acceptable offer during a pencilled-in bargaining meeting scheduled for later this month, the union would continue action.
As for when the first action may take place, Mr Woodage said it would likely not be next week.
"(Members) know where the pinch points are on a company and will instruct me when they're ready to go on the strike,” he said.
“But I would say if BHP has not come to the table with a decent offer… it's highly likely that we will be giving notice and we'll be shutting down the port.
“We only need to give five days’ notice. You can't export iron ore without lights on, and if we go out, the lights go off.
"BHP say they're the top wage payers in the country, then I put it to them: prove it. Put it in writing. Make it binding so that if they don't do it, we can sue them."
