July 30, 2025
We have had another major victory in our fight for Same Job Same Pay.
On 7 July, we finally received the news thousands of BHP labour hire mineworkers had been waiting for. The Fair Work Commission handed down its decision on applications for Same Job Same Pay at Goonyella Riverside, Peak Downs and Saraji mines, paving the way for an order to lift Operations Services, Workpac, and Chandler McLeod workers’ pay.
This is the culmination of years of campaigning and advocacy on the part of the Mining and Energy Union. BHP Operations Services has come to represent the absolute worst of the labour hire model, shamelessly designed to subvert enterprise agreements, deny union access, and drive down miners’ wages.
The Commission’s decision confirms that BHP subsidiary Operations Services is not materially different from other labour hire providers, despite BHP’s protestations and creative corporate structuring. Thanks to this, approximately 2,200 labour hire mineworkers at up for pay rises of around $30,000 a year, bringing them in line with their site’s EA employees.
Allan, an OS worker covered by the decision, said he was relieved to be finally recognised as an equal to his directly employed workmates.
“My OS crew performs the same work, on the same equipment, under the same policies as my directly employed workmates, but until today we’ve made considerably less.
“I’ve worked for well over a decade in the industry at a number of sites, both in labour hire and directly employed roles. I’ve seen first-hand how a segregated workforce can impact cohesion, morale and safety on site.
“I hope today’s order is the first step to ending this dodgy practice for good. We all deserve to start on an equal playing field.”
It’s not over yet however. BHP have already made submissions to the Commission trying to delay the orders being issued, foreshadowing an eventual appeal the Federal Court. Having apparently not learnt already that they should be paying their workers rather than lawyers, BHP is gearing up for a second round in the hopes that they can get the Same Job Same Pay decision overturned.
We’re ready for this fight, but BHP’s tactics show a callous disregard for the Operations Services workers covered by the order. The MEU is pushing for OS workers to receive their pay rise under the order before it goes back to court, because BHP should not be rewarded for kicking the can down the road.
BHP is not acting in isolation, however, as many employers have decided that delaying and frustrating the Same Job Same Pay process is the best strategy to avoid paying. Too many workers in the coal industry are still waiting for Same Job Same Pay when they are clearly eligible under the intent of the law.
The owners of many of our coal mines and the bosses of labour hire companies are determined to fight our applications in court, preferring to spend millions paying lawyers rather than their workers.
This has devolved from genuine legal challenges when the laws were new into shameless timewasting tactics to delay the orders being issued and put off having to pay a fair rate.
For example, the MEU lodged our application covering WorkPac mineworkers at Hunter Valley Operations nine months ago. Due to being granted excessive time to prepare their case and availability issues for WorkPac’s lawyers, it ultimately wasn’t heard until early May, then extended into June, and still hasn’t officially concluded. The delays got so bad that we agreed to provide submissions in writing. WorkPac’s lawyers insisted we hold them in person – only to end up saying not much of anything.
We wish this was an isolated case, but this conduct is unfortunately becoming the norm. Labour hire miners at Mt Owen, Mangoola, Tahmoor, Caval Ridge, Broadmeadow and Ravensworth are all still awaiting a result in their cases, despite the MEU filing each application last year.
These employers leaving their own workers in the lurch, uncertain of whether they’ll get an order or when it will be handed down, in order to put off what is increasingly seen as inevitable.
The federal Labor Government went to the 2022 election with Same Job Same Pay clearly on their agenda. They did as they said they would do and passed legislation to implement Same Job Same Pay in December 2023, with the laws taking effect from November 2024.
We are now into the second half of 2025. There’s no question that mine operators and labour hire companies have had plenty of time to adjust to new requirements and take steps to understand and implement Same Job Same Pay.
If there was any lingering doubt, the significant decision by the full bench of the Federal Court regarding BHP’s Queensland mines should make it clear to everyone in the industry that a labour hire worker performing the same work as a permanent worker under a site EA deserves the same rate of pay. They should stop stalling and start paying.
Grahame Kelly is the General Secretary of the Mining and Energy Union