Mining giants BHP, Rio Tinto revisit their industrial relations warnings as IR tensions simmer in the Pilbara

BHP now employs people just to drive union officials around to facilitate ‘right of entry’ requests. The miner pleaded with Labor for policies that help, not hinder, productivity as the mood in the Pilbara between the miners and unions turns frosty.

Rio Tinto iron ore chief executive Simon Trott at the Rhodes Ridge iron ore deposit in WA's Pilbara region.

BHP says some of the allowances it has made to accommodate the return of unions to the WA iron ore industry are the “definition of unproductive”.

The mining giant’s iron ore boss, Tim Day, said it had to hire workers just to drive union officials around its vast iron ore mines in the Pilbara region after a 400 per cent increase in “right of entry” requests made in the past year.

Mr Day, asked about the impact of the Albanese government’s industrial relations reforms, pleaded for policy settings that enabled miners to be productive.

Rio Tinto iron ore boss Simon Trott, appearing at the same event in Perth on Wednesday, issued his own pointed reminder of the consequences of industrial unrest amid a row over tactics unions are using to deal themselves back into action.

Mr Trott said the strikes of the 1980s led to the creation of a rival iron ore industry in Brazil. The Rio executive doubled down on his warnings about a return to the bad old days under the Labor industrial relations changes.

Rio and BHP have been targets of union efforts to re-establish themselves. Those efforts have intensified in recent months with one of the most active unions accused of making unlawful claims around “same job, same pay” laws.

The Australian revealed miners have accused the Electrical Trades Union of making dishonest “same job, same pay” claims and threats against WA mining businesses. The mining lobby alleges the union may have breached the Fair Work Act by misrepresenting the situation.

The ETU’s state secretary Adam Woodage in reply vowed not to take backward step in the “re-unionising of the resources sector”.

Senior Labor figures in WA, premier Roger Cook and Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King, backed “same job, same pay” laws at the source of industrial tension.

Hosing down a claim from Fortescue executive chairman Andrew Forrest that declining iron ore grades could turn the Pilbara into a wasteland, Mr Trott said the concern was around the IR landscape.

Rio worried the IR changes could disrupt a model of direct engagement with employees that had worked well for all stakeholders in the years free of union involvement.

Asked if Rio was starting to see some of the disruption it feared, Mr Trott said: “We’re seeing a lot more activity, and we’ll continue to make the points around the (industrial relations) model that we think are important.”

Recalling the 1980s, “those assets in Brazil got established effectively because of the industrial relations environment in Australia,” he said.

Mr Cook said he supported the “fundamental premise or motivation” for “same job, same pay” laws.

“Growing up in this place I watched the conflict, the disputes, the disruption that occurred during the 1980s and 90s as a result of what I think was a pretty unsophisticated industrial relations landscape,” he said.

“The world’s changed and what you see now is companies working very closely with their workforce to make sure that they can resolve issues ahead of any disputation.”

Ms King, who last year accused those troubled by the industrial relations changes of “hysteria”, said Labor was a “party of the workers, and the workers are what make this industry (mining) tick”.

However, she conceded on Wednesday that the government might have to intervene if “it’s proven that the system isn’t working how we want it to”.

Mr Day said the Pilbara iron ore industry had the highest paid workforce in the country on the back of what had been an extremely positive relationships between miners and workers.

He said the explosion in right of entry requests was productivity sapping.

“This isn’t a right of entry just to a workplace in Perth where they just come in and talk and go. These mine sites are hundreds of kilometres long, so this is a huge exercise just to do the right of entry,” Mr Day said.

“Now we’re hiring permanent people now just to drive them around so if that’s not the definition of unproductive, I don’t know what is.

“Workers have got their rights and all the rest of it. That’s fine, but we did need to keep that business productivity agenda playing for Australia just to make sure we’re keeping ahead of the game in the global game we play.”

Originally published as Mining giants BHP, Rio Tinto revisit their industrial relations warnings as IR tensions simmer in the Pilbara