Workers at the Glencore Copper Refinery in Townsville will walk off the job Friday morning, after more than a year of negotiations produced what workers say is a disgraceful offer from the multinational mining giant. Despite receiving a $600 million taxpayer-funded bailout to keep the refinery operating, Glencore has refused to offer workers a fair wage outcome that keeps up with the rising cost of living.
Glencore's latest proposal claims to deliver 15 per cent over four years, but workers say the company is using accounting tricks to inflate the figure by rolling a $3,000 annual bonus into the calculation. In reality, the wage increase is closer to just 3 per cent over four years.
All of this comes while workers have gone more than 12 months without a pay rise, with workers on the ground hearing reports that management have received annual bonus payments of between 10 and 15 per cent.
The current agreement expired in May 2025, and since the beginning of the previous agreement workers' wages have been outpaced by inflation, leaving them approximately 16 per cent behind today.
State Organiser Liam Sharkey say's "This situation has become so disgraceful that Glencore's wages for electricians now sit around 30 per cent below local competitors, making it impossible to fill critical roles."
"Instead of using the huge tax funded bail out to lift wages for their loyal workforce and attract more skilled local workers, the company has been relying on contractors costing up to four times as much, while also reportedly exploring plans to recruit up to 120 workers from overseas," he says.
The ETU is outraged as this situation is unacceptable for a company that is surviving off taxpayer support while refusing to properly pay the workforce that keeps the refinery running and contributes to that same tax funded support.
Workers now face a hard choice, leave their local community for better-paying jobs elsewhere or fight to protect local employment. With negotiations stalled and wages falling further behind, workers say they have been left with no choice but to take industrial action to save local jobs.
Glencore must return to the bargaining table with a genuine wage offer that reflects the value of the workforce and the cost-of-living pressures facing families in North Queensland. For a company receiving hundreds of millions in public support, the least Glencore can do is pay the workers who keep the refinery operating a fair and competitive wage.
