Looming BHP sparkies strike to be ‘the first of many’ in the Pilbara, Electrical Trades Union warns

The union spearheading looming strikes at BHP’s iron ore mines warns they will be “the first of many” to sweep through WA’s resources heartland.

Electrical Trade Unions WA secretary Adam Woodage fired a shot across the bow at the State’s biggest miners and energy companies, flagging that he has thousands of members at his disposal who could down tools.

Mr Woodage was speaking to media in front of BHP’s Perth office after 39 high-voltage workers across the company’s WA mines on Wednesday voted for protected industrial action.

The voting decision, which ends about four decades of industrial peace in the Pilbara, covers about 60 workers.

Work stoppages “lasting between 15 minutes and 48 hours” are being threatened unless BHP caves in to the ETU’s demands.

“This will be one of the first of many to occur in the Pilbara,” Mr Woodage said, adding strikes would “likely” start soon and the prospect of fuel shortages would not be a factor in pulling the trigger on industrial action.

The ETU has to give BHP five business days of warning before going ahead with a strike.

“We’re over 6800 members, and that is in all industries — from lifts to mines to oil and gas construction,” Mr Woodage said.

“However, we are willing to be a force of peace in the Pilbara with companies that want to negotiate and achieve fair, reasonable outcomes for our members.”

The ETU is demanding significant pay rises and a large catalogue of extra allowances.

These proposed annual allowances include $20,000 for nightshift work, $7000 for working in hot weather and a $6240 BHP contribution for private health insurance.

They also want 200 per cent penalty rates for overtime and 300 per cent for public holiday work.

The Chamber of Minerals and Energy has estimated the salary demands and allowances would lead to annual pay of about $400,000 per worker.

Mr Woodage refuted that estimate, and claimed the true figure was about 40 per cent less — equating to $240,000 a year.

Yet, a social media post by the ETU lists one of the union’s demands as “base salaries up to $249,000 a year by 2028”.

The ETU’s move is the latest escalation of a broader union campaign to regain a foothold in the Pilbara’s iron ore mines after a period of dormancy since the 1990s.

Unions have been increasingly emboldened by the Albanese Government’s changes to industrial relations laws, particularly lax rules around “right of entry” requests.