Sydney — Unionized Alcoa workers in Western Australia have voted against the company's proposed Enterprise Bargaining Agreement presented in August, and will continue industrial action as a result, Alcoa and the Australian Workers' Union said Friday in separate statements.
The strike began August 8 after negotiations broke down over job security issues.
Alcoa said it welcomed an alternative proposal from the AWU, and invited the workers back to work while both sides work on bringing the matter to a resolution.
"Our sites have contingency plans to ensure they can continue to operate during industrial action. We estimate the industrial action impacted alumina production at our Western Australian refineries by approximately 15,000 mt in August, of the approximately 9 million mt we produce annually. We will continue to monitor the situation," Alcoa said in its statement.
According to AWU, 80% of the unionized workers voted against Alcoa's proposed agreement.
"We now have one week to negotiate sensibly and fairly before the Fair Work Commission hears Alcoa's application to terminate the current agreement," AWU National Secretary Daniel Walton said in a statement.
The union represents 1,600 of the 3,500 workers at Alcoa's Wagerup, Pinjarra and Kwinana alumina refineries, the Huntly and Willowdale bauxite mines, and Bunbury and Kwinana ports.
The three alumina refineries are able to produce about 8.8 million mt/year. A small portion of this is for domestic consumption, with the majority exported globally.
