BHP has drawn its battlelines with bright green cones as the Port Hedland community braces for union-led strikes that could worsen the town’s “already exorbitant” cost of doing business.
About 200 workers are expected to down tools for eight hours from 2pm on Thursday as unions attempt to squeeze BHP for pay rises significantly above the company’s offer of 16 per cent over four years.
While the unions’ exact wage demands remain a closely guarded secret, many of the striking workers are already on more than $200,000 a year, stoking fears that massive wage hikes will make the Pilbara’s surging inflation worse.
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About 80 per cent of the striking workers live locally in Port Hedland, which is Australia’s number one port for shipping iron ore.
Town of Port Hedland chief executive Dale Stewart told The West Australian that he hoped the union action would not result in upwards pressure on business costs.
“It is a concern if costs go up, which has a tendency towards inflationary factors and other things,” he said.
“The cost of doing business up here is already exorbitant.”
Mr Stewart said the whole community wanted a “constructive outcome sooner rather than later”.
“We would all love for there to be stability and certainty such that business confidence and community confidence can remain as it should be,” he said.
BHP workers strike in Port Hedland. Union members congregate opposite the entrance to the BHPB site on Wilson street Port Hedland at approx 10am. Credit: Jackson Flindell/The West Australian
“A lot of contractors and subcontractors rely upon BHP as a large local employer and organisation. I think certainty is the key.”
A local business owner on Anderson Street — just a short walk from the strike site — highlighted the stark income disparity fracturing the community.
Speaking anonymously, they noted that while BHP and Fortescue employees enjoyed lucrative wages, many non-mining workers were struggling to get by, which has fuelled a major local housing crisis.
Militant unionists on Thursday morning were getting ready to set up a family-style fete outside of BHP’s Nelson Point port entrance to coincide with the strikes.
A sausage sizzle, face painting, bocce, totem tennis and a giant Connect 4 are on offer to entice locals.
Workers at the BHP entrance. Credit: Jackson Flindell/The West Australian
There were also plans for a bouncy castle but that idea was scrapped on Wednesday.
The unions hope their charm offensive will help shed a thug reputation that has alienated them from the mining industry since the early 2000s.
Despite the festive atmosphere engineered by the unions, BHP is treating the strike seriously.
The scheduled eight-hour work stoppage represents the first large-scale industrial action in WA’s critical iron ore industry in more than 25 years.
BHP could lose more than $120 million in revenue and the WA Government about $7m in royalties if the union strike stops ships from being loaded on Thursday.
BHP drew its corporate battlelines with green cones at the junction of the main road and its Nelson Point port entrance.
BHP’s site in Port Hedland. Credit: Jackson Flindell/The West Australian
Crossing the line of cones would result in arrest, BHP warned.
The Big Australian also barred its workforce from speaking to the media, a directive one anonymous BHP employee at Perth Airport said was implemented to prevent tensions between unionised and non-unionised workers.
