If BHP workers striking in Port Hedland next week can secure a union agreement, it would challenge the IR model that has endured in the Pilbara for more than 30 years, an IR researcher says.
AWU production operators have voted today to authorise industrial action, which will clear the way for port-wide strikes at BHP's Port Hedland operations, ahead of the next bargaining meeting tomorrow.
Peabody says it has called off a lockout of workers at the United Wambo Washery but the MEU claims it is effectively continuing as the company has told members it cannot accept their work if they continue to ban certain tasks.
Just over half of BHP's Mining Area C and South Flank iron ore mineworkers have voted to accept the company's proposed unilateral deal, which it says is "industry-leading", while the unions have called it a bare-bones "baseline" agreement.
The FWC has confirmed an electrical contractor's pursuit of a multi-employer deal does not displace its obligation to negotiate a single enterprise agreement sought by the ETU, granting the union a PABO after finding the company breached good faith obligations.
The UWU has won a protected action ballot order despite an employer's intention to unilaterally put a proposed deal to a vote, and its insistence that the bargaining parties already agreed to it in-principle.
The House of Representatives has passed legislation to reduce the FWC's workload and introduce procurement arrangements enabling the Albanese Government to prefer suppliers with enterprise agreements, while the Greens have backed a motion to give the Senate just an hour to debate it before a final vote on Monday.
An unregistered union representing Sydney Airport workers has filed a majority support determination application to bring a contractor to the bargaining table, while negotiations are also underway with two other Kingsford Smith employers.
A FWC full bench has taken the extraordinary step of quashing a five-year-old decision that left thousands of BP employees uncovered by an enterprise agreement while the company remained unaware it had been terminated.
