Thousands of striking workers at BHP Billiton Ltd.’s (BHP) metallurgical coal mines in northeastern Australia may step up work stoppages and are looking at other options to put pressure on the company as employment negotiations are set to continue, labour union officials have said.
Rolling strikes across mines BHP jointly owns with Mitsubishi Corp. in Queensland began last month, reducing the output capacity of the operations, which are the world’s leading exporter of the steelmaking coal that is in great demand in rapidly industrializing parts of Asia.
“The negotiations held this week were very slow, and going back backwards on some occasions,” said Stephen Smyth, district president of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, one of three unions bargaining for a new employment deal for their more than 3,000 members. Smyth said the rolling strikes are set to continue this week and next at each of the mines, and the unions are considering other action as well as extending the strikes “up to a week or two if required.”
Rohan Webb, assistant state secretary at the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, said further negotiations with the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) are set to take place as this issue
of Dry Cargo International goes to press. BHP has declined to quantify the effect of the strikes, although
it has said the mines continue to operate and steps have been taken to minimize the impact on production. Coal mines across Queensland were hard hit early this year by monsoon rains and flooding, denting exports of the commodity.
“BMA is continuing to meet and negotiate with the unions and we believe progress is being made,” said Fiona Martin, a spokeswoman for BHP. “Given the progress, BMA again stresses that further industrial action at this time is unnecessary, as it will not be in the best interest of finalizing an agreement.”
BHP has said metallurgical coal production jumped 19% on the quarter in the three months to June 30 as its mines recovered from the flooding, although volumes were down 28% on record production in the same quarter last year. The strikes began toward the end of the reporting period.
BMA has offered a 5% year-on-year wage hike for workers as part of a new three-year employment agreement, but the unions — which also include the Electrical Trades Union — have said they want equal pay for contract workers and employees and a say in recruitment, among other things.