Port Hedland strike ends
By Michael Bramwell
PERTH — Workers at the $1.5 billion BHP iron ore processing plant in Port Hedland have tentatively agreed to return to work following a combined union meeting on January 29.
In a charged atmosphere, the meeting at the WA Labour Centre eventually decided in favour of negotiations between the CFMEU, AMWU and builders labourers (BLPPU), the Chamber of Commerce (CCI), BHP and the Industrial Relations Commission.
The proposals included: a return to work while continuing site negotiations with a view to concluding them no later than February 5; $600 in airfare costs to be paid to plant workers; a 4% increase in wages backdated to July 1; and an increase in the living away from home payment to $364 per week, as well as a $210 per week local living subsidy.
The dispute began when site workers refused to return to work after their Christmas break because higher costs of living and strenuous conditions have not been matched by an increase in pay.
BHP had predicted, and budgeted for, a four-week strike. The corporations represented by the CCI only began to get alarmed after workers defied an IRC order to return to work. Many site workers were unhappy about the unions' decision to scale down their pay increase demand from 19% to 4%, as well as about having to resume work in Port Hedland while negotiations were continuing.
Another mass meeting of site union members will be held after February 3 if their demands are not met.
Rank-and-file members at last week's meeting also pointed to the weak state of the union movement as a whole, and the inability of the current ALP-led ACTU to coordinate nationwide industrial action. In the light of federal and state government legislation which makes it illegal for companies to pay workers on strike and outlaws secondary boycotts, Australia-wide actions coordinated by the rank and file are needed more than ever.