Up Late with Ben Harvey: AWU, ETU and AMWU union threat to BHP Pilbara sites

“The unions have backdoored their way to the negotiating table.”

In tonight’s episode of Up Late, Chief Reporter Ben Harvey discusses the union threat up in the Pilbara, or as he puts it, “The holy grail of the union movement for a generation.”

New Federal laws brought in earlier this year have enabled unions to start collective bargaining without majority support of the workforce they represent.

This has forced BHP to the negotiating table in a move that could spark a wave of unionisation in the Pilbara after more than a decade.

“Like Marty Mcfly, the unions want to do a little time travel and go back to the period when the Pilbara was a stronghold of organised labour, “Harvey said.

The Up Late host answers the burning question: Why did the unions get kicked out of the Pilbara in the first place?

“Two words — Robe River,” Harvey said.

Harvey dusts off the history books and takes a close look into the tumultuous history of the Robe River iron ore mine up “in the heart of red dog country.”

“Unions had a stronghold on the operation all through the 70s and early 80s and were downing tools for the slightest grievance,” Harvey said.

Harvey leaps back to the future, addressing BHP’s concerns over a timeline where the unions succeed in re-entering the Pilbara region.

“Unions want guaranteed ­annual 5 per cent wage rises, improved rosters and higher rates for long-serving tradies.”

WATCH TONIGHT’S UP LATE IN THE PLAYER ABOVE