By Anthony Benbow
Since September, a battle has been unfolding in Western Australia's north-west Pilbara region, the outcome of which will affect the conditions and wages of workers throughout Australia. The fight to prevent individual contracts at BHP's Mt Newman and Port Hedland operations needs the support of all workers and activists.
Following a dramatic decline in BHP's fortunes in 1998, due in large part to bad investment decisions by senior management, a new top management decided on a course of action to boost the company's flagging share price: screw more profits out of BHP's workers.
The prevalence of individual contracts at other Pilbara operations and the lack of big industrial disputes at BHP Iron Ore since 1988 made fertile ground for a divide-and-conquer operation — or so the BHP bosses thought.
Throughout the dispute, BHP and the establishment media have claimed that it is about "flexibility". They fail to mention that flexibility was already agreed to in existing collective agreements — such as unions agreeing to major work being done by outside contractors. Even so, wages and conditions at BHP were maintained at a higher level, thanks to collective bargaining.
Union members at BHP abided by the terms of the previous enterprise agreements. They were surprised when BHP did not respond to their offer to open negotiations in September, months before the existing agreements were due to expire. Surprise gave way to shock and anger when, in November, BHP announced without warning that individual contracts "were available".
Bribes
Big financial inducements were offered to mask the contracts' main purpose: to end the certainty of work conditions. The contracts state, "... this document [is] to be read in conjunction with BHP's company policy". All conditions and work site disputes will now be decided absolutely by the employer; there are no rights of appeal to the Industrial Relations Commission or any other body outside BHP.
Since November, under heavy pressure from the company, close to half of BHP Iron Ore's workers have signed the contracts. According to the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) mining division WA secretary Gary Wood: "Some workers have been asked 10 or 12 times to sign a contract". Other workers report being told that if they don't sign, "your career with BHP will be going nowhere".
BHP claims it will save $80 million by moving to individual contracts. Gary McCulloch, an organiser with the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) says: "We cannot see where that money will be coming from, other than out of the pockets of the workers".
A letter to the January 26 West Australian from Martin Thomas, a picketer, pointed out: "BHP is facing this resistance because workplace agreements have a down side — pay increases are not as good and conditions deteriorate. This does not in itself guarantee productivity increases."
Faced with BHP's willingness to spend tens of millions of dollars and to sharply divide the local community in order to get its way, unions have not backed down. Members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, the Australian Workers Union, the CEPU, the CFMEU and the Transport Workers Union held mass meetings and voted for action. A 24-hour strike took place in the Pilbara on December 6.
Court case
The ACTU pledged "to use all its resources to ensure a collective agreement is struck at BHP Iron Ore". Its efforts are now concentrated on a High Court case which will try to have the individual contracts withdrawn because they induce members to resign from their unions.
The ACTU's lawyer told the Federal Court on January 27 that BHP's intention was to prevent a collective agreement by "getting the union out of the way and winding back entitlements to employees". The company replied that there was no evidence of any "statement, threat or requirement" to give up union membership.
BHP workers at other workplaces around the country met to discuss the impending contracts. They refused to believe BHP's claim that, "BHP Iron Ore is different. Collective agreements are our preferred method of working in other areas." The wave of solidarity stoppages that swept BHP operations in South Australia, NSW and Victoria reflected this.
Interrupted by a cyclone and the holiday season, the campaign resumed in early January when mass meetings of the workers voted in favour of four-day strikes at Mt Newman and Port Hedland.
Enthusiastic picketing on the first day of the strike was successful. BHP management called in the WA government and a line of police baton-charged the picket, beating people and arresting seven unionists.
The picket was then forced off the road by the threat of Federal Court injunctions against picketers. After this, work resumed. Now BHP is trying to discipline some unionists for "unacceptable behaviour"!
The response to the police and company brutality was tremendous — BHP coal workers in NSW and Queensland walked off the job for 24 hours and other BHP workers took action.
So far, BHP has lost around $18 million, according to the Australian. The BHP workers' willingness to fight and other workers' understanding that the issue involved is relevant to them are a strong basis to build on. The last thing workers need is an ACTU-brokered deal that preserves the form of a collective agreement while giving away all the benefits.