CANBERRA, Oct 10 (Reuters) - A major Australian union is threatening strikes
in the iron-ore rich Pilbara of Western Australia, targeting the world's biggest
miner BHP Billiton , the West Australian paper said on Friday.
The report comes as Rio Tinto Ltd, the world's second-largest iron ore
miner, faces a 12-hour strike on Saturday by train drivers at its Pilbara region
operations who want to force their employer to negotiate a union deal.
The Australian Workers Union said it "strongly favours" strike action to
force mining contractor Henry Walker Eltin (HWE) to reverse its opposition to a
union deal for its workforce at BHP's key Yandi site.
"Basically, that only leaves two options for industrial agreements and both
of them are non-union. Strike action is something that is high on our list of
persuasive means," AWU Secretary Stephen Price told the West Australian
newspaper. The Yandi mine, which produced 40 million tonnes of iron ore last
year, only resumed operations on Thursday after the death of a worker halted
operations.
The mine, 500 kilometres (310 miles) from the western coast of Australia, is
central to BHP's iron ore business, accounting for almost half of the 91 million
tonnes of iron ore that BHP mined in Australia last year.
HWE refused to comment on the threat to Yandi.
Rio Tinto, which is subject of a multi-billion dollar hostile takeover bid
from BHP, faces the first strike at its Australian iron ore mines since 1992.
Rio's Chief Executive Sam Walsh told staff in a memo this week that the
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union was making unacceptable demands
for drivers to be placed on driver-less trains at its Pilbara operations.
The traded market for iron ore is sensitive to any disruptions to supply
amid a global shortage brought on by growing orders from Asian steel makers.
But China, highly dependent on Australian ore, is in a better position to
weather disruptions than it was earlier this year, with some 60 million tonnes
of ore -- roughly one month's consumption -- stockpiled in ports.
BHP is the world's third-largest supplier of iron ore, after Brazil's Vale
and Rio Tinto Ltd/Plc.
($1=A$1.46)
(Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by James Thornhill)
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