PORT HEDLAND – Maintenance workers at BHP port operations in Western Australia’s Pilbara have voted to strike, creating a high-stakes operational risk for the mining major and the state government.
Port Hedland serves as the primary conduit for Australia’s iron ore exports, and any sustained disruption threatens both the corporate bottom line of the world’s largest mining company and the royalty streams that fund WA public services. The port also underpins a critical share of Australia’s export income, meaning any prolonged stoppage would be closely watched by Canberra and global steelmakers.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) confirmed that 90 per cent of its members at the Port Hedland operations backed the proposed work stoppages. A separate ballot from the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) is also pending.
If the ETU approves the action, approximately 450 workers could engage in protected industrial action. The approved ballots allow for an unlimited number of stoppages, with durations ranging from 30 minutes to 24 hours, providing unions with tactical flexibility to target peak shipping and maintenance windows.
The move follows seven months of failed negotiations over a new employment agreement, conducted under the federal industrial relations framework. AMWU State Secretary Steve McCartney stated the result reflects workforce frustration.
“Workers shouldn’t have to wait seven months for genuine progress at the bargaining table,” McCartney said. “Members have had enough. They are demanding to be heard and they are demanding a fair agreement.”
The votes covered 450 members of the ETU and AMWU in the port town.
Financial and Operational Exposure
The economic scale of the dispute is tied to the massive volume of throughput at the port. BHP exported 290 million tonnes of iron ore through Port Hedland in the previous financial year, feeding primarily Asian steel mills and anchoring WA’s budget position.
The potential daily losses associated with a shutdown are substantial:
- BHP estimated daily revenue at risk: $110 million to $126 million
- WA government estimated daily royalty shortfall: $6.85 million
Even short, rolling stoppages could force vessel delays, demurrage costs and production rescheduling across BHP’s Pilbara mine-to-port supply chain.
BHP has stated its intention to maintain “industry leading pay and conditions” and noted that strong contingency plans are in place to ensure safe, reliable operations continue during union disruptions. Those plans are expected to rely on redeployed staff and rescheduling of critical maintenance, but the company has not detailed how long they could offset a coordinated campaign of industrial action.
Any industrial action will have a significant operational impact on BHP.
The Western Australia Chamber of Minerals and Energy warned that union demands could damage the national economy. Chamber chief executive Aaron Morey emphasized that cooperative bargaining has historically driven productivity and generated over $100 billion in royalties for the state.
“Militant unions must be pulled into line.”
The unions reject that characterisation, arguing the dispute centres on rostering, job security and maintaining conditions in a tightening labour market rather than extracting windfall gains from the current iron ore price cycle.
Regulatory and Policy Friction
The return of union activity to the Pilbara has sparked a political divide over the federal industrial relations system administered by the Fair Work regime and recent legislative changes.
Protected industrial action at BHP can only proceed after formal ballots and notice periods overseen by the Fair Work Commission, under amendments introduced by the Albanese government that expanded multi-employer and intractable bargaining options. Business groups argue those reforms have tilted the balance back toward organised labour in strategic sectors such as ports and resources.
BHP, industry groups, and political opposition have attributed the resurgence of unionized labor to changes in industrial relations laws implemented by the Albanese Government. However, Resources Minister Madeline King defended the legal right to take protected action, saying the framework was designed to encourage bargaining in good faith rather than prevent strikes altogether.
“It seems to be a particular aversion to modern unionism in the Pilbara and it’s difficult to understand sometimes,” Ms. King said. “The ideal outcome is for all parties to remain at the negotiating table and find a way through.”
Premier Roger Cook stated the WA government would not intervene in the dispute but supported the workers’ right to negotiate, mindful that royalties from iron ore fund major health, education and infrastructure commitments.
“Stand up for your rights; get the best wages and conditions that you can,” Cook said, while adding that continuity of exports was also in the state’s long-term interest.
Port Hedland is the largest bulk export port in Australia by tonnage and a key cog in WA’s iron ore industry.
Historical Context of Pilbara Labor
The current tension marks a potential shift in the region’s labor dynamics. While unions were prominent in the Pilbara during the 1970s and 1980s, their influence waned following a bruising dispute at Robe River, the rise of individual contracts and workplace deregulation in subsequent decades.
Industrial relations expert Alexis Vassiley noted that this action could be the most significant of its kind since Rio Tinto train workers struck in 2008. “If what we do see is significant work stoppages, that would be historic,” Vassiley said, pointing to the strategic leverage port and rail workers hold over an otherwise highly automated industry.
For BHP and the WA government, the dispute doubles as an early test of how the new federal industrial laws will play out in resources heartlands – and whether a new generation of Pilbara workers is prepared to use strike powers that largely fell dormant for more than a decade.
Resources Minister Madeline King says workers have a right to take protected industrial action.
BHP says it has “strong contingency plans in place” in the event of protected industrial action.
Staff are required to provide five days’ notice before commencing any protected industrial action, a statutory cooling-off period intended to give employers, unions and governments one final window to reach agreement before the nation’s largest export port begins to slow.