The union movement has accused WA’s mining lobby of “hyper-aggressive” campaigning against its activities in the Pilbara, while warning of an extreme politics push among blue collar workers.
The union movement has accused the state’s mining lobby of “hyper-aggressive” campaigning against its activities in the Pilbara, while warning of an extreme politics push among blue collar workers.
Resolutions flagged by the Australian Workers' Union to be put to its national conference in Perth this week have singled out the Minerals Council of Australia, Rio Tinto and BHP for their public campaigning against the Pilbara’s unionisation.
In one resolution, the AWU accused the trio of undertaking an “ultra-aggressive and misleading campaign against the [Western Mine Workers Alliance]” – a combination of the AWU and Mining and Energy Union which has canvassed worker support in the Pilbara.
In a second, it called on the state’s largest miners and the mining lobby to recognise how their campaigning in the Pilbara was “contributing to the rise of disillusionment and political extremism among blue collar workers”.
The comments come off the back of an outcry over union activity in the Pilbara, which ramped up earlier this year after the Albanese government enacted legislative change facilitating access.
AWU national secretary Paul Farrow said the miners were “sooking” over what the AWU considers normal union activity.
“I think the resources lobby has actually started to believe their own overblown tales of woe,” he said.
“They’re getting high on their own supply and they’ve lost sight of the big picture.
“If they want to maintain the very profitable social license they have been granted by Australia to exploit our mineral wealth, they need to make sure that the Australians they employ are shown genuine respect.”
Mr Farrow said wages had not kept pace with the escalation of iron ore prices, which peaked at above US$230 per tonne in 2021 and currently sits around US$100/t.
“BHP and Rio like to make out that everyone in iron ore mining is making great money and it’s a total lie,” he said.
“In reality, as ore prices reached all-time highs in recent years, the pay rises offered by BHP and Rio to most Pilbara workers didn’t even keep pace with inflation.”
The union’s salvo is the latest in a series of back-and-forth barbs over efforts to unionise the Pilbara workforce, sparked in August when the WMWU moved to initiate bargaining in the area.
That followed the passage of new laws within the Fair Work Act which paved the way for unions to begin negotiations without having to prove they have majority worker support.
The changes are part of the broader industrial relations reform which has concerned industry for its crackdown on labour hire and enhancement of union bargaining powers.
It prompted criticism from the MCA and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA, which warned it impacted investment attractiveness.
BHP and Rio also sounded their concerns, with fears that widespread industrial action in the nation’s economic heartland could spell trouble for the economy.
In response to today's news, Minerals Council chief executive Tania Constable said the unions had been given too much power of intervention by government and rubbished suggestions that companies had avoided negotiating with unions in the region.
“For a generation, workers in the Pilbara have voted with their feet and agreed to direct engagement with their employers, which has delivered some of the highest paying and most productive workplaces in Australia,” she said.
“Under these laws, that choice has been stripped away. This isn’t just unfair to workers; it risks importing the kind of bullying, conflict, and disruption that we have seen from the CFMEU, directly into the Pilbara.
“That will have a devastating impact on the Western Australian economy.”
CCIWA chief executive Chris Rodwell also weighed in.
“The push to re-unionise the Pilbara risks dragging Western Australia back to the bad old days of the 1980s, where unions would strike at the slightest provocation – to the detriment of job creation and economic growth,” he said.
“The fact is that workers in the Pilbara are among the safest and best-paid in the world. There’s a good reason why union membership is so low, and continues to decline, in the Pilbara.”
A BHP spokesperson pointed Business News to comments from chief executive Mike Henry at the company’s recent AGM, which reiterated concern over the potential inflammatory impacts of greater union engagement in the Pilbara.
“…We believe the dynamics are being embedded currently, create greater potential for conflict including in some parts of the nation where there hasn't been a real recent track record of industrial relations disputes,” he said.
“Now we will work very hard with our employees, with whoever they choose to have represent themselves if they choose representation from a union for example, to avoid that situation.
“We genuinely pride ourselves on working together with others to achieve outcomes.
“However, some of the policies that being put in place we do give rise to the greater likelihood of disruption.”
In August, federal Resources Minister Madeleine King warned against hysteria over industrial relations reform and called on big business to work with unions to achieve outcomes.
Starting tomorrow, the AWU national conference will this year be held in Perth for the first time.
