A multinational resources company refused to support sweeping industrial relations changes that strengthen employee bargaining powers over work entitlements.
BHP recently opposed the Federal Government’s proposed expansion of multi-employer bargaining powers through its Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill. AMR can reveal the new changes theoretically let workers from different mining companies band together to demand bigger pay rises. If employers refuse, affected employees could simultaneously resort to industrial action at several places of business.
The bill passed the House of Representatives with 80 votes for and 56 against on 10 November 2022. It now requires at least 39 votes to pass the Australian Senate before legislation can be enacted. However, the mining giant believes the rules are unnecessary because resources workers are already “very high-paid”.
“There simply is no case for multi-employer bargaining in the mining industry [because] this is an industry where the current approach has been working well, wages have been on the move,” BHP CEO Mike Henry said according to News Limited.
“BHP’s workers would be in the top decile, the top 10 per cent of wage earners in Australia, so there is really no case for multi-employer bargaining in mining.”
Henry, who in 2023 receives a 3.4 per cent pay rise to US$15.1M (A$22.5M) annually, suggested the mining sector should be excluded from industry-wide bargaining.
“I do not want to go into the detail because there are different roads to Rome on all this. All I can say is that we do not see any need for that specific approach to bargaining in the mining sector,” he said according to the media outlet.
The remarks came after the chief executive apologised to every BHP employee who suffered from any form of bullying, harassment, sexual assault and racism.
“I am fiercely determined to do everything I can to stop this conduct,” Henry said according to the Australian Associated Press.
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