Good morning readers, and welcome to our live news blog for Thursday, July 16.
Making headlines today is the first strike in WA’s Pilbara in decades, with BHP workers at the miner’s Port Hedland operations set to down tools for eight hours as they negotiate for better pay conditions.
And one expert warns other Pilbara workers will be “taking note” of the strike, which is expected to cost BHP up to $50 million.
Dr Alexis Vassiley, a work and employment relations lecturer at Edith Cowan University, said strikes were frequent in the Pilbara in the 70s and 80s, “yet since 1999, all of the iron ore companies have removed significant union influence, so it’s in a way a non-union region”.
Read the full article here
