A majority of mine workers employed by Rio Tinto in Paraburdoo, in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, voted on March 13 in favour of a collective bargaining agreement.
The action took the form of a petition, which was initiated by the Western Mine Workers Alliance (WMWA), a collaboration between the Australian Workers’ Union and the Mining and Energy Union.
According to the WMWA, the petition signatures will now be authenticated before being submitted to the Fair Work Commission (FWC).
The WMWA is demanding that Rio Tinto be compelled to enter bargaining negotiations with it.
The vote in Paraburdoo is the latest step in the unions’ campaign to reclaim power across the Pilbara.
The miners’ union in the Western Australia’s iron ore-rich northwest was once a powerful force, winning significant pay and conditions for workers.
Since the Bob Hawke Labor government’s Prices and Incomes Accord in the 1980s — effectively a “truce” between corporations and unions — union membership and militancy have declined across the industry.
The accord severely undercut unions’ ability to organise and defend their members and rights, allowing mining companies to reap a greater profit share of the wealth produced by mine workers.
Mining workers receive much higher wages than the national average, because the work is dangerous and they have to work 12-hour shifts with weeks-long back-to-back rosters away from their families.
The ever-present threat of being fired has led to a widespread fear of making oneself a “target” by becoming an active member of the union.
“Loyalty to the company” has, in reality, led to a culture of insecurity, alongside stagnating wages, while company profits soar.
The WMWA campaign has taken off after the Closing Loopholes Act 2023 allowed unions to demand collective bargaining agreements in areas where they did not have majority coverage.
Last year the WMWA successfully forced BHP, the world’s largest iron ore company, to negotiate a collective agreement with unions for the first time in 15 years. Before this, workers were contracted individually, had different pay rates and conditions, and there was no transparency.
Mining bosses claim the majority of the workforce is happy with arrangements and the WMWA is an unwelcome intruder. But the Paraburdoo vote has shown otherwise.
It is believed that Rio Tinto has rejected calls to open negotiations with the WMWA, saying it will fight the unions in the FWC.
Rio Tinto has also started throwing its workforce incentives in an attempt to stave off the union drive.
“It’s no coincidence that Rio Tinto has started to act on workers’ concerns, as workers are showing their willingness to stand together collectively through the union to seek a better deal,” WMWA spokesman Craig Beveridge told the Australian Financial Review on March 19.
Rio Tinto has recently given high voltage and signals workers an average wage rise of $23,000, as the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) files for majority representation of those industry workers at various sites. The ETU’s message to its members is “Take the money; fight for better”.