The Chicken Little of business lobbying, the Minerals Council of Australia, has warned that increased union activity in the Pilbara risks killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Paltry poultry analogies aside, the MCA has a point on this one. History shows that unions are productivity killers when they’re in the North West.
The MCA (which is essentially a union) is taking issue with a surge in right-of-entry permits aimed at BHP.
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The company which invited us to “Think Big” has a big collective bargaining problem.
The number of permits to get inside the Big Australian’s Pilbara operations has quadrupled over the past couple of years.
With more than 880 in 2025 and 170 so far this year BHP’s claims processor can’t keep up with the paperwork. It got so bad, we were told, that the company subcontracted the processing of permits to the WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry (which is also essentially a union).
With the AMWU, AWU, MEU and ETU all making claims, BHP executives are saying FFS WTAF is with IR ATM?
Unions are challenging the notion that wages and conditions in the Pilbara are generous.
If you look at salaries from the perspective of “on the tools” time then the money is good but there’s a lot of unpaid travel involved with FIFO life.
And let’s remember where these people flying to. The Pilbara isn’t like the home counties of England; an open pit iron ore mine has almost the exact thermal qualities of a wood-fired pizza oven.
How good is that salary once you factor in childcare fees because there’s only one parent at home?
Or the invoice for couples therapy because one partner is away all the time? Or the bill from the divorce lawyer when therapy didn’t work?
Ben Harvey Credit: The Nightly
The Electrical Trades Union asked its members to think about those questions and when they did, they didn’t like the answers.
Think of feared union leaders through the ages you probably remember John Setka from the CFMEU, Norm Gallagher from the BLF, or Paddy Crumlin from the MUA.
The person emerging as the most worrisome unionist in 2026 is a sparkie named Adam Woodage.
The ETU’s WA secretary has convinced 50 high voltage BHP workers to vote in favour of industrial action in pursuit of better wages and conditions.
“They thought that the days of their employees taking industrial action in the Pilbara were history,” Woodage told us a few days ago. “They were wrong.”
The ETU wields disproportionate power at the moment because of the push for renewable energy.
All those solar panels and windfarms and industrial batteries have a lot of wires hanging out of them and they need to be connected to other wires in just the right way.
Woodage is like the Monty Burns of the North West — he controls the juice.
BHP says it has “strong contingency plans in place” should the ETU disrupt its operations but you can expect some histrionics if and when Team Woodage does strike.
When the hyperbole starts, we should all remain mindful of the fact that everyone involved in the battle for the Pilbara is full of it, at least to some extent.
The iron ore miners claim they’re paying their workers as much as they can responsibly afford to.
Bollocks. If that’s true, how did Rio Tinto afford to suddenly stump up an extra $25,000 a year for rail technicians back in June when unions threatened action?
The ETU is acting like its motivation is entirely altruistic.
Bollocks. It sees the Pilbara as a stable source of membership dues. The ETU has historically enjoyed a membership sugar hit during the construction phases of big resources projects but it’s been unable to maintain its ranks — and therefore dues — during steady-state operations.
The Minerals Council reckons Australia’s resources industry is losing its efficiency and risks becoming a legacy play.
Bollocks. The MCA says the sky is falling every second day. It would have argued it was too expensive and inefficient to put canaries in the coal mines.
The Pilbara has made more billionaires than any other area of Australia. And billionaires didn’t get rich by writing cheques.
