BHP coal boss Mauro Neves slams Same Job Same Pay as productivity threat

The powerful coal boss said rumours of 1300 job cuts were “inaccurate”, but did not deny the possibility of cuts as the behemoth looks to “future-proof” its business.

BHP boss Mauro Neves in Brisbane on June 27, 2023. Picture: Duncan Evans

BHP Queensland coal boss Mauro Neves has confirmed the company could reduce its workforce across the Bowen Basin as it grapples with Same Job Same Pay reforms.

Mr Neves, speaking alongside CEO Mike Henry at the World Congress of Mining in Brisbane, said rumours of 1300 imminent job cuts at its mines were “inaccurate”, but did not deny the company could make cuts to “future-proof” its business against shocks to productivity.

“We are always looking at opportunities to be more productive, I won’t deny that,” he said.

“But there is nothing like those numbers.

“There is no announcement to be made, it is just the natural course of business.”

The Same Job Same Pay reforms going through federal parliament aim to end pay discrepancies between labour-hire and direct hire workers on mine sites.

Mr Henry has said the measure would add some $1.3bn to its yearly wages bill.

BHP boss of Queensland Coal Mauro Neves (left) and CEO Mike Henry give a press conference on the sidelines of the World Mining Congress in Brisbane on June 27, 2023. Picture: Duncan Evans

Mr Neves said the reforms were not “natural”.

“We are continuously looking at opportunities to grow productivity and legislation should foster that productivity, should create flexibility, (and) should recognise pay levels are related to experience and productivity,” he said.

“Different workers have different productivity in the workforce, that is the very nature of everyone’s job.

“Any legislation that tries to defeat what is the natural course of business, is not helpful and doesn’t drive productivity.”

In Queensland, BHP operates the Daunia, Blackwater, Broadmeadow, Goonyella, Caval Ridge, Peak Downs and Saraji mines with a complex mix of labour-hire and direct-hire workers.

The BHP Goonyella Riverside mine control room.

The ratio between the two changes from site-to-site but out of Goonyella’s roughly 2500 employees, it is understood some 1000 are direct-hire while 1500 are a drawn from BHP’s Operational Services provider, labour-hire companies and contractors.

A source close to the ground disputed the argument Same Job Same Pay could lead to job losses at BHP’s sites.

“They (BHP) simply don’t run their operations with fat in the system,” he said.

“They employ the people they have to employ to do the job.

“They do not employ spare operators to joyride.”

Mining and Energy Union Queensland district president Stephen Smyth said BHP needed to engage with the union before implementing major workplace changes.

“I think at this point it (job cuts) is a rumour,” he said.

“But who knows what they are going to do.

“They (coal companies) are that ruthless, to make a point, they would lay off workers over Same Job Same Pay,” he said.