Fed: Last ditch effort to avoid BHP strikes fails

AAP General News (Australia)
12-31-1999
Fed: Last ditch effort to avoid BHP strikes fails

A last-ditch plea by steel unions to bring BHP to the negotiating table has fallen on deaf ears.

BHP wants its 1,000 miners in the Pilbara to sign up to individual contracts in an
effort to cut costs and improve competitiveness.

The unions, who are deeply opposed to the contracts, have spread the dispute to BHP's
steel operations in the southern and eastern states.

Australian Workers' Union federal president GRAHAM ROBERTS has urged BHP executives
to reconsider their refusal to negotiate a collective agreement for the company's Estern
Australian iron ore mines.

But BHP Iron Ore external affairs vice-president STEADMAN ELLIS says the company hasn't
received any further approach from the AWU and sees no reason to change its offer.

The Australian Workers' Union and other steel unions plan to hit BHP Steel hard perhaps
as early as next week with a 24-hour stoppage at the company's biggest steelworks, Port
Kembla.

AAP RTV dep/jn/wz

KEYWORD: BHP CONTRACTS (CANBERRA)

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