The fight for fair continues in WA

The WA Branch’s fight for fairness continues across Western Australia with members taking protected industrial action in the Pilbara, Offshore and in Kwinana.

Our BHP Ports members downed tools twice, much to BHP and the West Australian Newspaper’s despair hampering ship loading operations in Port Hedland. AWU members working for Cleanaway walked off the job in their quest for 4%, 4% and 4% a more than reasonable request on their employer. While our Offshore Alliance members said enough is enough, with our UGL and DOF members taking action in their fight for industry standard pay and conditions.

Members at Water Corporation have voted up their new EBA, securing a 5%, 4% and 3.5% pay increase over a three-year agreement with many members receiving a 2.3% uplift prior to the first pay increase after a strong NO vote the first time around. Our Organising team of Jeff, Andy and Anthony now shift their focus to improving the Civil Employees Framework, to secure our members even better pay and conditions.

The WA Branch farewelled over 40 DBCA and DFES Firefighters as they head to the United States, to help support our North American friends as they fight out of control wildfires on the US/Canada border. Aussies always show up for mates when they need it, and our members are no different, heading across to return the favour shown to us during the Black Saturday bushfires.

Good luck and thank you to our AWU firefighters

Meanwhile in the Goldfields, our Gold Fields Australia (GFA) members voted down GFA’s subpar offer noting that the pay increases, conditions and attitude of GFA towards negotiations must change. Members were told not to discuss their EBA on site and that the pay offer was generous and reasonable, clearly a majority of workers (74%) felt differently, voting NO to the subpar offer.

Cleanaway members standing strong for a fair EA!

The history of our union is written in countless moments of Australian history, and none are more auspicious than the 2018 Alcoa Strike. AWU members from the Pinjarra, Kwinana and Wagerup Refineries took action alongside members from the Huntly and Willowdale mine sites, showing true blue solidarity. AWU members walked out the gate for 53 days and 53 nights, taking no backward step until their agreement was reinstated by Alcoa. In 2026, we commemorate the 8th anniversary of this moment in time.

In the last edition of the Australian Worker, we noted the WA Branch’s attendance at the National Suicide Prevention Conference an issue which has touched many AWU members. In July the WA Branch continued this conversation in the Sunday Times, Mandurah Mail and Sound Telegraph newspapers in WA, continuing to highlight the important role unions play in suicide prevention – if you need help reach out.