Union bid to force Rio to negotiating table

If successful, it will be the first majority support determination at a major Pilbara iron ore mine in more than 20 years.

Unions will seek to force Rio Tinto into collective bargaining in the Pilbara. Photographer: Ian Waldie/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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Unions will seek to force Rio Tinto into collective bargaining in the Pilbara, applying to the Fair Work Commission to bring the mining giant to the negotiating table.

The Western Mine Workers Alliance said on Thursday that “well over” 400 workers at Rio’s Paraburdoo iron ore mine operation had signed a union petition in support of having a collective agreement.

The WMWA, which consists of the Mining and Energy Union and the Australian Workers Union, said it would “triple check” the petition before writing to Rio Tinto and applying to the commission for a majority support determination seeking to require the company to collectively bargain with the workforce.

If successful, it will be the first majority support determination at a major Pilbara iron ore mine in more than 20 years.

“We expect that Rio will do whatever they can to oppose and slow our application, “ the alliance said in a Facebook post.

“To all our Para members – thank you. Whilst there is still more to do, we are a big step closer to workers having real say in their pay and conditions at Rio.”

The unions claim members are able, through collective bargaining, to earn, on average, 30 per cent more than non-union members. It says train drivers earn $250,000 to $300,000 a year due to their ability to collectively bargain and strike an enterprise agreement.

Rio is prepared to abide by any commission orders but reiterated on Thursday that its existing approach had helped to “drive productivity and wages growth”.

“This model has delivered for our people, our business and the Australian economy, through the creation of jobs, strong and sustained wage growth, and the payment of royalties,” a Rio spokesperson said.

The Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA, whose members include Rio and BHP, attacked the Albanese government’s workplace laws, saying they encouraged conflict and threatened to break the link between productivity and pay rises.

Chamber chief executive officer Rebecca Tomkinson said mining was a critical pillar of the state and national economy. “Allowing unions to push that pillar over would be disastrous for jobs and send living standards backwards,” she said.

“Replacing a system that rewards workers based on their individual performance with a model that encourages workplace-wide conflict will hurt investment confidence in the WA resources sector at the same time competition for capital from other countries has never been fiercer.”

Ms Tomkinson said when businesses did well, they could afford to pay higher wages to their staff.

“For more than 30 years the resources sector has been able to get that balance right,” she said.

“The evidence is wages 57 per cent higher than the national average, and tens of billions of dollars in taxes and royalties paid to both the state and federal governments every year.

“The IR reforms enacted by the federal government since 2022 threaten to break the connection between productivity and wages growth. They are a serious risk to jobs and the future viability of resources operations.

Rio in recent years has introduced even-time rosters, 18 weeks of paid parental leave and fly-in, fly-out options from regional towns, on top of pay rises.

The company recently introduced hefty compensation payments for workers who have flight delays – $500 for a delay of 4-8 hours, $750 for 8-12 hours and $1000 for a delay of more than 12 hours.

The unions claimed partial credit for the new compensation policy, saying it was a sign of the petition “making waves” among Rio management.

Most of the workforce at Paraburdoo live in the town of the same name, built in the 1970s to support mining.