Members of the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) at the Townsville Glencore (LSE:GLEN) refinery in Queensland, will take protected industrial action after almost a year of negotiations.
Negotiations started on 25 March 2025, but to date, Glencore has refused to offer workers a decent wage increase that meets the rising cost of living.
This week, the AWU gave notice of protected industrial action, that workers would walk off the job on Friday 13 March if the issues can’t be resolved at a bargaining meeting scheduled for yesterday (12 March).
Queensland Branch Secretary Stacey Schinnerl says Glencore has received a $600 million government investment to protect jobs.
“But here we are almost six months on and they are still refusing to give their workers a fair go,” Schinnerl says.
“Our members have been working hard to make sure this refinery has a future despite Glencore’s history when it comes to stripping assets and dumping workers at the first sign of economic pressure.”
In October 2025, Glencore agreed terms with the Australian and Queensland governments on a support package worth up to $600 million to keep the group’s Mount Isa copper smelter and Townsville copper refinery operating for the next three years.
Earlier this month, the AWU accused Glencore of attempting to replace Australian workers with overseas labour at its Mount Isa Mines operations in Queensland, in order to undercut fair wage increases in current enterprise bargaining negotiations.
The union says Glencore is recruiting overseas workers, including conducting in-person interviews in Zambia.
Glencore rejected these comments from the AWU on worker recruitment.
The company says its preference is to fill job vacancies at the Mount Isa Mines operations with local residents where they possess the necessary skills and abilities.
“The AWU may not like it, but the reality is that the combination of a national skills shortage and a workers’ preference for fly-in fly-out and drive-in drive-out roles is making it hard for us to recruit for jobs based in Mount Isa,” Glencore says.
Since October 2025, Glencore has offered 270 permanent jobs to people based locally. The 120 skilled job vacancies are being advertised in Australia and overseas.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Glencore
