Author: Alexis Vassiley, Lecturer, School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University

A battle is underway on the mine sites in Western Australia’s remote Pilbara region. Unions are keen to get back into the iron ore industry after decades on the outer. Mining companies are desperate to keep them out. At Rio Tinto site Paraburdoo, where both residential and fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) workers are employed, the Western Mine Workers Alliance announced on Thursday it had the signatures necessary to demonstrate majority support for enterprise bargaining. Over 400 workers had signed on. Once ratified by the Fair Work Commission, the company will be obliged to negotiate an enterprise agreement with the union. This is…