Thousands of labour hire miners across Queensland\u2019s coalfields have secured a massive pay victory following a major ruling at the Fair Work Commission on the government\u2019s controversial Same Job Same Pay laws. <\/p>\n
The decision, released by the full bench this week, clarifies that a worker\u2019s prior experience counts towards their pay rate classification following the implementation of a Same Job Same Pay order, which compels companies to pay labour hire workers at least the same rate of pay as direct hire employees. <\/p>\n
For haul truck driver Loretta Bennett, working at the giant Blackwater mine west of Rockhampton, the win means an extra $6550 a year. <\/p>\n
The labour hire worker took on mining giant BHP and labour services provider Workpac in the case, which hinged on whether she should be paid at a Level 1 or Level 2 classification after an order hit Blackwater in July 2025.<\/p>\n
Workpac accepted the order to equalise rates between labour and direct hire miners, but a dispute erupted around Ms Bennett\u2019s proper classification.<\/p>\n
The mine operates under a 2022 BHP enterprise agreement, which sets a first-year Level 1 salary at about $151,000 and a Level 2 salary at about $157,000.<\/p>\n
The agreement also states that two years\u2019 experience pushes a worker from the Level 1 classification into Level 2.<\/p>\n
Ms Bennett, employed by Workpac, started working at the mine in June 2023 and had accrued more than 24 months\u2019 experience in the job.<\/p>\n
But Workpac wanted to pay her at a Level 1, arguing that because the order came into effect in July last year, her rate should be classified from that point in time onwards.<\/p>\n
The FWC torched that argument, finding that the \u201caccumulated service, experience, skills and qualifications\u201d of an employee should be assessed to determine the \u201crelevant rate\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no basis in the text of (Same Job Same Pay) to suggest that the rate of pay that \u2018would be payable\u2019 should be determined by ignoring attributes of the employee simply because they arose from, or were acquired at, a time prior to the regulated labour hire arrangement order coming into force,\u201d the bench ruled.<\/p>\n
Further, it said ignoring prior experience would undermine the purpose of Same Job Same Pay to prevent labour hire workers from being undercut by employers.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy way of example, if the classification structure \u2026 provided for a different rate of pay for an employee who possesses a specified qualification, it would not achieve the purpose of protecting bargained rates of pay if the fact of the qualification was considered in determining the rate of pay for a directly hired employee but ignored in determining the protected rate of pay for a regulated employee because the qualification was obtained prior to the regulated labour hire arrangement order being made,\u201d the FWC stated.<\/p>\n
Finally, the bench rejected arguments from BHP and Workpac that taking in prior experience would produce a \u201cretrospective\u201d application of the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would not require WorkPac to pay the rates under the BMA Agreement prior to the regulated labour hire arrangement order coming into force or otherwise afford any of the rights or entitlements derived from that instrument by reference to service in the past,\u201d the FWC said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt does no more than take account of antecedent facts and circumstances as a basis for prescribing the rate of pay that must be paid for future work.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision is expected to ripple across the industry and impact thousands of contractors at BHP\u2019s Bowen Basin mines and Whitehaven Coal\u2019s Daunia and Blackwater operations.<\/p>\n
It is also likely to impact Workpac, which provides labour services to the state\u2019s mining companies.<\/p>\n
BHP has spent years railing against Same Job Same Pay, which it argues will degrade already-flatlining productivity in the industry.<\/p>\n
The Mining and Energy Union, which backed Ms Bennett\u2019s bid, applauded the FWC\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an important outcome for labour hire mineworkers because it reinforces a simple but important principle that workers who turn up every day, build experience, contribute to production and perform the same work as everyone else deserve to be recognised and paid fairly for the work they do,\u201d an MEU spokeswoman told News Corp.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe MEU Queensland believes the ruling provides important clarity around the operation of Same Job Same Pay laws and represents another significant step toward fairness, dignity and proper recognition for labour hire mineworkers across the coal industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
BHP sold Blackwater to Whitehaven Coal in 2024.<\/p>\n
Whitehaven, Workpac and BHP declined to comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of labour hire miners across Queensland\u2019s coalfields have secured a massive pay victory following a major ruling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[318078,64,63,689,318077,318080,318075,235543,314138,151987,75,318083,318073,318074,318084,318085,26504,677,318076,701,318082,318079,128,318081,61094,55825,318072],"class_list":["post-657936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-arrangement-order","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-bennett-beats-bhp","tag-classification-structure","tag-coal-miner","tag-coal-miners","tag-duncan-evans","tag-enterprise-agreement","tag-environment","tag-labour-services","tag-loretta-bennett","tag-massive-pay-victory","tag-mining-companies","tag-mining-giant","tag-news-corporation","tag-oceania","tag-pay-rate-classification","tag-queensland","tag-queensland-coal-miner","tag-regulated-labour","tag-science","tag-services-provider","tag-tech-company","tag-truck-driver","tag-workplace-win"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}