SYDNEY — Australian mining group BHP is facing a major increase in labor costs after the country’s industrial relations arbiter ruled that the company must pay the same wages to both directly and indirectly hired workers at three of its mines, dealing a blow to its internal contracting arrangements.
The Fair Work Commission this week ruled that BHP’s Operational Services entities provided labor and not, as BHP had argued, services. The distinction means that workers recruited through Operational Services are covered by “same job, same pay” provisions that entitle them to the same rates of pay as their directly employed coworkers.
