FED: Unions unite in coordinated campaign against BHP

AAP General News (Australia)
02-16-2001
FED: Unions unite in coordinated campaign against BHP

SYDNEY, Feb 16 AAP - Australia's peak unions are set to flex their combined muscle
in a coordinated campaign against BHP.

The ACTU and other unions involved in negotiations with BHP's steel, coal, marine,
petroleum and iron ore operations met in Sydney today to discuss a coordinated union campaign
against the company.

The action came after unions yesterday dropped an appeal against a Federal Court decision
which permitted BHP to push Western Australian workers at its Pilbara iron ore operations
onto individual contracts.

BHP also has been faced with ongoing industrial strife at its Port Kembla steelworks
and Illawarra coal operations, all on the New South Wales south coast.

But BHP has said it's unconcerned by the threat of action by unions.

"These type of threats won't alter our resolve to continue to work and achieve the business
improvements necessary to continue to ensure the long-term sustainability of each of our
businesses into the future," a spokeswoman told AAP.

ACTU secretary Greg Combet said today's talks were aimed at bringing all the unions
together to assess all of the industrial issues that exist in BHP's workforce.

But Mr Combet would not be drawn on when any action against BHP would start.

"We're not going to telegraph any of the steps that we're going to be taking to the
company," he said.

"We'll be taking steps in the immediate future to ensure that BHP delegates all around
the country are aware of the issues that other workers in BHP are dealing with, and to
build the cooperation and industrial support of those delegates to deal with these issues."

But he stressed unions were willing to sit down and negotiate with BHP over individual
workplace issues.

Meanwhile, in Western Australia, the Pilbara workforce today met and agreed to the
decision to drop the court action against BHP.

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) WA mining secretary Garry Woods
said Pilbara's iron ore workforce had also agreed to refuse to sign any individual agreements
as well as a ban on attending any workplace meetings about the individual contracts.

The members also agreed to hold rolling stopwork meetings on site for up to four hours
to discuss BHP workplace issues.

Mr Combet said the individual contracts offered in the Pilbara were discriminatory
against those people who wanted the right to collectively bargain.

But the BHP spokeswoman stressed that almost half of the Pilbara workforce had already
signed individual contracts and the company was receiving inquiries at all its workplaces
to sign onto similar agreements.

Mr Combet said 550 of the 1,000 strong workforce in the Pilbara had yet to sign the agreements.

And he said the company could not afford to be at war with half of its workforce.

"The unions have a very united position and united view that collective bargaining
rights in BHP are going to have to be respected," he said.

"In the Pilbara, what we have seen over a considerable period of time is an effort
to de-unionise and not respect collective bargaining rights."

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KEYWORD: BHP NIGHTLEAD

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