A majority of Rio Tinto production workers at a key iron ore hub in the Pilbara have backed a union push to force the mining giant into an agreement, unions claim, in what would represent a historic shift for a workforce that has been deunionised for 30 years.
The Western Mine Workers Alliance – the Australian Workers’ Union and the Mining and Energy Union – announced on Thursday that it had secured the support of “well over 400 workers” at the mining town of Paraburdoo in a petition necessary to secure Fair Work Commission bargaining orders.
