Mining body warns of union bid to import ‘strike-ridden tactics’ to iron ore worksites

A dispute over who is an “engine driver” has sparked a dire warning from the resources peak body that the Mining and Energy Union is trying to bring militant east coast-style tactics to the Pilbara’s iron ore sector. The Minerals Council of Australia will send a note to members on Monday, warning an attempt by the MEU to force BHP to allow it to join bargaining on behalf of iron ore production technicians has far-reaching consequences with national implications. It fears the case will import the “strike-ridden tactics of eastern states coal mining” into the powerhouse iron ore sector that has long underpinned Australia’s prosperity. The Australian Workers Union, Electrical Trades Union and Australian Manufacturing Workers Union last year used new rules set up by the Albanese Government to force the start of bargaining with BHP relating to its Pilbara iron ore workers. AWU national secretary Paul Farrow subsequently said big miners should deal co-operatively with aim of reunionising the Pilbara — or risk radicalising their workers. In December, the MEU argued that it should also be involved in the bargaining despite a long history of it being hands-off in the iron ore industry. BHP rejected the bid. A flurry of correspondence through January, filed as part of an application to the Fair Work Commission, reveals the union is arguing that its rules covering “engine drivers” mean the BHP employees who are already its members are automatically entitled to MEU representation in the bargaining. BHP’s position is that the term “engine driver” cannot encompass workers driving every type of equipment containing a mechanical device, no matter how it is used. The union has now taken the matter to the Fair Work Commission. The Minerals Council strongly opposed the Government’s industrial relations overhaul and says the consequences are now playing out as it feared. Chief executive Tania Constable said no one should doubt the union wanted to use this as a test case to extend its influence into new sectors. “This aggressive bid to ‘re-unionise the Pilbara’ would impose the confrontational, strike-ridden tactics of eastern states coal mining onto WA’s iron ore sector,” she said. “The attempt to import eastern states-style unionism into WA puts at risk everything that workers and business have achieved — an industry that is high-paying, highly efficient and strike-free.” The peak body is sending a briefing note on the case to its members — who include BHP — on Monday after the Fair Work Commission held a directions hearing for the matter last Thursday. It notes an MEU letter to Fair Work president Adam Hatcher applying for a “good faith” bargaining order asked for the matter to be heard by the commission’s full bench due to its significance and said the AWU was expected to intervene in the case. “If so, this represents a significant change from the AWU’s long-standing position, with potentially significant implications for the mining industry,” the briefing to MCA members says. “It is not in anyone’s interests, least of all iron ore workers themselves, to return to the days of pointless demarcation disputes over union coverage. “Nor is it in anyone’s interests to undo settled arrangements that have been accepted by all parties for decades.” The MEU — which split from the construction union CFMEU in late 2023 — and the AWU jointly formed the Western Mine Workers Alliance in 2013 to offer union coverage to all mining operations in the Pilbara. Last week, BHP had a majority of its operations service maintenance staff in WA, who play a big role running its iron ore mines, voted in favour of a new enterprise bargaining agreement.