- Electrical workers on BHP's high-voltage Pilbara networks voted for industrial action
- The vote follows a year of stonewalling in negotiations for first agreement
Wednesday 25 March – Electrical workers on BHP's high-voltage network in the Pilbara have taken the historic step of voting for protected industrial action, after BHP stonewalled their attempts to negotiate an agreement for more than a year.
The vote is the first at a mine operator in the Pilbara in decades. The 60 workers, who were hired under wildly disparate individual contracts, are seeking an agreement that:
- Protects current conditions in an agreement rather than relying on managerial whim
- Provides transparent annual pay adjustments
- Describes classifications with objective, measurable paths to progression
- Provides recognition of travel time, higher duties and time spent on call
Following the successful ballot workers can elect to take the following actions provided five days' notice is provided to BHP.
- Bans on issuing permits
- Bans on new switching programs
- On-call and overtime bans
- High-risk work bans such as working at heights
- Refusal to use vehicles fitted with video surveillance equipment
- Bans on attending management-led meetings excluding safety meetings
- Work stoppages lasting between 15 minutes and 48 hours
The proposed actions will not be taken in any situation where the safety of workers or the community may be threatened.
Electrical Trades Union West Australian Secretary Adam Woodage said that unions wanted to be a force for peace in the Pilbara, but that could only happen if companies were willing to engage in genuine productive negotiations.
"Today's vote is the result of hubris by BHP," Mr Woodage said. "Their disagreement with the people who keep the lights on and the ore moving has reached this point because of a protracted, deliberate and short-sighted refusal on the part of the company to negotiate a reasonable, consistent agreement."
"ETU members working at BHP in the Pilbara are highly skilled. They perform difficult, specialist, high-risk work.
"For years they have been working under wildly disparate individual contracts, with basic conditions at the whim of individual managers, who have played favourites and built personal empires through the selective application of company policies.
"Workers put a position to BHP more than 12 months ago hoping to commence negotiation of a fair, reasonable, transparent agreement. The company has refused to negotiate on a single point.
"This refusal left workers with no other way forward than to pursue protected industrial action.
"It's nobody's preferred way forwards, but when it is the only way forward it is one that we are more than prepared to take.
"Should the company wish to meaningfully commence negotiations, the door remains open."
