Workers on Australian Workplace Agreements can expect to earn at least 8.5 per cent a year more than employees on awards in Western Australia’s mining industry, according to the WA Industrial Relations Commission.
Several unions were seeking a 25 per cent wage increase and improved conditions to overcome the discrepancy in wages award workers faced compared with those on AWAs at BHP Billiton’s iron ore operations.
The commission found award workers at BHPB’s operations in WA were entitled to an 8 per cent increase, even though there was a 16.5 per cent discrepancy between what workers on AWAs and what award workers were paid. The commission said the 8.5 per cent was a premium because of the extra work flexibility AWA signatories had agreed to.
Unions WA Secretary Stephanie Mayman said the decision enshrined the principle of equal work for equal pay.
However, when pressed on the 8.5 per cent “flexibility” premium, Ms Mayman declined to comment because she did not have a copy of the decision to refer to.
Derek Schapper, the lawyer representing the unions in the wage case, said the equal work for equal pay claim was partially correct because, setting the 8.5 per cent premium aside, that was what the commission had granted.
