A decision by the Fair Work Commission to force three mining companies in New South Wales into multi-employer bargaining has significant implications for mining operations in the Pilbara.
The Commission’s decision was made under new Federal workplace relations laws which were introduced in 2022, but until now had not been tested.
The decision will dramatically increase the power of unions on those mine sites and sets a dangerous precedent for union activity in the Pilbara.
CCIWA Chief Executive Chris Rodwell said the decision comes amid an alarming union power grab in Western Australia’s mining sector.
“Friday’s decision by the Fair Work Commission Full Bench has laid bare the truth that the deep concerns Australian businesses held on multi-employer bargaining were well-founded,” he said.
“While this decision today is for mining in NSW, it will cut across the nation and into WA’s economic engine room – the Pilbara.
“Any attempt by the unions to force multi-employer bargaining in WA’s mining industry would pose a significant risk to productivity and jeopardise future projects.”
Despite promising businesses that multi-employer bargaining was designed for low-paid, feminised industries like childcare, this decision clearly shows that the business community was right all along about the broader risks.
Mr Rodwell said the prospect of union chaos in the Pilbara would have dramatic consequences for the WA economy.
“The union movement is now one step closer to its goal of re-unionising the Pilbara and there are serious concerns that the bad old days of industry wide wage setting and the ongoing strikes of the 1970s and 80s will be back,” he said.
“The number of Pilbara mining workers who are members of the union is incredibly small. This is a blatant power grab.
“Every West Australian knows our state’s economic fortunes are largely born in the Pilbara. Any attempt by the unions to undermine that should be deeply concerning to all of us.”
Mr Rodwell said the decision would also have implications in other sectors in WA, including manufacturing.
