The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) ramped up the pressure on the Pilbara Port Authority (PPA) on July 28 by applying for protected industrial action at the Utah Point Bulk Handling Facility in Port Hedland.
The proposed strike action comes after the PPA refused mediation, through the Fair Work Commission, on the union’s claims around wages and housing.
Negotiations began on a new enterprise bargain with the PPA last November. The MUA is seeking to overturn the two-track wages system, which allows the PPA to pay workers, recruited after 2017, between $30,000-$40,000 a year less than those employed earlier doing the same work.
The MUA is also seeking a housing allowance in its new enterprise agreement as workers face dire housing shortages across the Pilbara.
The PPA claims it has to abide by WA Labor’s public sector wages policy, which restricts wage rises to 3% a year. The MUA said this should not extend to highly profitable enterprises, such as the PPA.
“In our meetings we continue to see the Pilbara Port Authority blame the [WA] State Government for an inability to reach agreement. They cry poor in negotiation meetings with the Union and say the complete opposite to the state government during recent state budget submissions,” Joel O’Brien, MUA North West organiser, said on July 28.
O’Brien said the PPA recorded 775.7 million tonnes of exports/imports over 2024-2025, totalling $153 billion worth of commodities across the four ports. Its net profit, after tax, was $246 million.
He said as the WA budget forecast almost $1 billion in net profit over the next four years for PPA, “We find it incredibly hard to believe that they can’t meet our claims”. The union’s higher wages claim would amount to just 1.1% of PPA’s profits this year. Alongside this, the PPA CEO receives $624,000 a year, a 31% jump since 2021, and a higher salary than the prime minister.
With PPA refusing to negotiate, the MUA filed for mediation with the Fair Work Commission in March. After repeatedly claiming they needed more time to look into the union’s demands, O’Brien reported the lawyers for PPA have since announced they would no longer negotiate with the union.
The MUA reports that since announcing its intention to strike, the PPA has offered to include company-supplied housing and housing allowances into the enterprise agreement. But it is refusing to budge on the union’s wages demand.
The MUA is continuing to prepare to strike, initially at Port Hedland. However, given the PPA’s intransigence on negotiating in good faith, similar action is expected at the Eastern Harbour in Port Hedland and the Dampier cargo wharf.