Electrical workers at BHP’s (ASX: BHP) Port Hedland bulk port terminal will vote on work stoppages following six months of failed talks with management, the Electrical Trades Union said in a statement on Friday.
The ballot follows six months of stonewalling where workers found employer representatives who were unauthorised to negotiate an agreement, unwilling to do so, or both, the union said.
Workers are seeking to resolve significant discrepancies in their labor conditions, having been hired on wildly disparate common-law contracts under two separate legal entities, both ultimately owned by BHP, the union added.
The Electrical Trades Union comprises more than 70,000 electricians, apprentices and electrical workers around Australia, according to its website.
Workers are also seeking transparent classifications and criteria for promotion and pay parity with workmates performing the same work.
Union members are left to resort to protected industrial action as the only way forward when BHP managers fail to negotiate after multiple meetings, said Electrical Trades Union WA Secretary Adam Woodage.
BHP workers across the Pilbara region were subject to a pattern of behaviour that left lawful protected industrial action the only way forward, added Woodage.
Port Hedland is one of the largest iron ore loading ports in the world and the largest in Australia. It is linked to a number of BHP’s mines in the Pilbara region.
BHP did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
(Reporting by Sherin Sunny in Bengaluru; editing by Alan Barona)
