Australian Workers Union Pushes to Re-unionise Pilbara Mine Workers

The Australian Workers Union (AWU) is looking to re-unionise mine workers in Western Australia's Pilbara region following the Labor government's new workplace laws, various news agencies said.

Ahead of the AWU National Conference, held last week in Perth, the Australian Financial Review reported that AWU National Secretary Paul Farrow called out major mining companies operating in the area.

“(The big miners) are having a tough time coming to terms with the fact we now have an Australian government that wants to help real Australians instead of just being the obedient servant of mining corporate interests,” he said. “Pilbara mine workers used to enjoy coverage under enterprise agreements and that’s the situation we need to get back to.”

Farrow was referring to companies like BHP (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP) and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO,NYSE:RIO,LSE:RIO).

He also mentioned the Minerals Council of Australia, an advocate for the country's resource industry, saying that together the three entities have taken part in an "ultra-aggressive and misleading campaign” against unions.

“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,” Farrow added.

A separate resolution introduced at the AWU event calls for regulations on silica exposure “that would bring mining into line with stonemasonry and tunnelling to mitigate the current risk of silicosis.”

AWU Western Australia Secretary Brad Gandy said that over the last year, all states and territories have agreed to ban the production and supply of high-risk engineered stone products and regulate silica exposure in tunnelling.

"But employers in mining are hiding behind the use of separate laws to regulate this industry to uphold outdated and inadequate WHS standards," he explained. "Mining workers deserve the same level of protection as workers in other industries. The AWU will keep fighting until it has secured justice for all workers exposed to silica-related harms."

Farrow said that both resolutions are critical to the union’s agenda, adding that most of the pay increases that BHP and Rio Tinto offer to Pilbara workers do not keep up with inflation.

Michaelia Cash, Western Australia's shadow minister for employment and workplace relations, characterised the AWU's re-unionisation push as “a direct threat to the competitiveness of WA’s leading resources industry." She also described it as “an attack on the productivity” of one of the state's most productive industries.

The Minerals Council of Australia also gave a response to the AWU.

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.”

Speaking ahead of the AWU's conference, Mike Henry, CEO at BHP, reiterated that the Labor government's “same job same pay” laws will cost it AU$1.3 billion a year, reducing competitiveness for the company and economy.

“We believe the dynamics that 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. However, Henry also noted that the company will work with its employees to avoid that type of situation.

No further comments had been made by the AWU at the time of this writing.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Gabrielle de la Cruz, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.