Western Australian mine workers protest unsafe conditions

Two decades ago, the Pilbara mining region, which supplies about 17 percent of the world’s iron ore, was a union stronghold. But today, the more than 2,000 workers at Newman’s Mount Whaleback project, reportedly the world’s biggest open cut iron ore mine, are predominantly non-union members, with about 80 percent of the workforce employed under statutory individual contracts known as Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs).

The petition declared: "The workforce here is generally stressed, unhappy, disillusioned, frustrated and disempowered to do anything about it". It said "morale is low" and workers who objected or reported unsafe work practices were treated by management as "obstructionists and resistant to change".