Workers at top global miner BHP's Port Hedland facility in Australia will seek arbitration after the two sides failed to agree on terms for a new wage deal, the controversial Combined BHP Ports Unions said on Tuesday.
Port Hedland in Western Australia is the world's largest iron ore export hub and the main shipping gateway for BHP's Pilbara operations.
The union, which represents around 450 operators and maintenance workers at the site, will apply for an intractable bargaining declaration, which allows the regulator, the Fair Work Commission, to set terms for the agreement.
The union and the firm have been negotiating for more than nine months, and meeting almost weekly in recent months, facilitated by the regulator, to determine a four-year wage agreement.
In August, workers stopped work for two days, the first major industrial action at the facility in a quarter-century.
".....BHP is unwilling to negotiate an agreement that reflects the specialized skills, extreme conditions and significant personal sacrifices of the people who generated the company more than $13 billion in profit this year," the union said in a statement.
"Our focus remains on delivering a fair and reasonable agreement," a BHP spokesperson said in response to a Reuters request for comment.
The miner said its latest offer was put forward a week ago and added that continuing negotiations was the fastest way to reach an outcome.
For most workers, BHP has offered a 17 per cent pay increase over the four years of the agreement, which will include a transition payment of AU$25,000 ($17,802) paid over two years, as well as an increase to roster allowances.
The union argues that some 40 per cent of the workforce would be worse off under that proposal.
Shares of BHP ended 2.2 per cent down at AU$59.25, compared with a 0.9 per cent decline in the broader benchmark index.
(Reporting by Roshan Thomas in Bengaluru and Melanie Burton in Melbourne; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Harikrishnan Nair)
