The largest number of walkouts oppose the attempt by BHP to break collective bargaining with the unions and impose individual contracts on workers.

In November, BHP refused to negotiate with iron ore miners in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, offering individual nonunion employment contracts to the 950 workers at their Port Hedland and Mount Newman mines instead.

The two main unions covering workers at BHP Iron Ore are the Australian Workers Union (AWU) and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU).

BHP is a giant Australian-based industrial corporation with major operations in steel, mining, and oil around the world. Graeme Hunt, head of BHP's Iron Ore division, said that BHP needed to get in a better competitive position with rivals such as Rio Tinto, which is in the forefront of the bosses' attacks on unions, from its operations in Western Australia to its coal mines in New South Wales.

Peter Reith, the minister for workplace relations, commended BHP's move. Reith has spearheaded the federal government's antiunion legislation and led its union-busting campaign against the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) in 1998.

BHP offered its iron ore miners a "choice" of working under basic award conditions or taking a 6 percent pay raise—-of up to $A10,000 a year—and a better superannuation [pension] deal on an individual contract.

Tim Daly, West Australian secretary of the AWU, said that BHP was using its iron ore work force as guinea pigs to implement change across the company.

About 800 workers attended stop-work meetings in Port Hedland and Newman in mid-November to protest plans to introduce individual contracts at BHP Iron Ore.

The union held a rally outside BHP's Perth offices on December 10 and set up picket lines several days later in Port Hedland during a 24-hour protest strike.

The bosses gave some 200 workers who have already signed individual contracts a day off rather than force them to cross the picket line.

Trevor Smith, who has worked in Port Hedland for 20 years, said, "If they get away with it here, they are going to get away with it at every other BHP site in Australia."

Daniel Connors, a mine worker with 21 years' experience at BHP in Port Hedland, said that those who have been tempted by the contracts will lose the protection of collective bargaining. "Blokes don't realize that once you sign, the union can't do anything for you," he said.

A campaign of 24-hour solidarity strikes by 10,000 steelworkers across the country began in December.

In Newcastle, north of here, 1,500 BHP steelworkers walked off the job for 24 hours December 20. Two days later another 1,500 workers at the company's Whyalla steelworks in South Australia struck for 24 hours. Other actions by BHP workers took place in Victoria.

At BHP's Port Kembla mill, 5,000 steelworkers walked off the job January 13, and another 24-hour stoppage was organized at the Westernport mill in Victoria January 16.

CFMEU Southwestern District delegates, from predominantly BHP-owned mines on the south coast of New South Wales also met to discuss solidarity with the Pilbara miners.

BHP is threatening to start offering nonunion contracts in its steel division if industrial action continued. The company had negotiated with the unions at all its 150 mines and other facilities operations until last November.

On January 10, BHP applied for and got orders from both the New South Wales and Australian Industrial Relations Commission to prevent strike action in support of the Pilbara miners. BHP's transport division also applied for a ban on planned action by members of the Maritime Union of Australia in New South Wales and Victoria.

Unions defied the ruling and workers walked off the job at both BHP's Port Kembla steelworks January 13 and the Rooty Hill mini mill in Sydney January 14.

Iron ore workers held stop-work meetings at Mount Newman and Port Hedland January 13 and voted in favor of a four-day industrial stoppage across BHP's iron ore mines and other plants beginning on January 19.

Workers at the Yallourn Energy plant went on strike, threatening power outages in the state of Victoria. Construction workers and baggage handlers also hit the streets in the state.

Union-minded workers across the country have their eyes on both BHP's union-busting probe and on the defiant response by thousands of unionized BHP workers.

Linda Harris is a member of the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia.  
 
 
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