A cargo of wheat loads at CBH’s Kwinana terminal. Photo: CBH Group

MORE than 130 workers at the CBH Kwinana Grain Terminal have again been locked out of the site, as an ongoing stoush between the Western Australian co-operative and union members continues.

Employees were locked out of the site on Wednesday morning, with CBH opting to bring in a replacement workforce.

The move follows a four-week suspension of industrial action at Kwinana, which began on September 6 after a conciliation conference at the Fair Work Commission.

During and after this suspension, workers represented by the Maritime Union of Australia and the Electrical Trades Union met with CBH to continue enterprise bargaining negotiations.

According to the MUA, CBH presented a proposed agreement which workers have described as substandard, and which was put to a democratic vote of the workforce.

The result was that all but three individuals rejected it.

MUA WA branch secretary Will Tracey said the overwhelming view was that the proposed agreement was unfair and unworkable.

He said it was clear the company was not interested in achieving any kind of consensus with its workforce.

He said CBH sent a written counteroffer at 8.30pm on Tuesday, hours before instituting a lockout.

“Notwithstanding the scab workforce being brought in, the lockout and the wilful mistreatment of a loyal workforce threatens the timely handling of the record harvest and exposes CBH’s unwillingness to act cooperatively or constructively toward a fair outcome,” Mr Tracey said.

CBH Group chief people officer Jacky Connolly said the company reinstated the previous lockout following months of industrial action undertaken by the unions.

“After careful deliberation, and in response to industrial action taken by the workforce – including a combination of partial work bans and work stoppages since July 2025 – CBH has made the difficult decision to reinstate a lockout of all employees covered under the proposed MUA and ETU enterprise agreement at [Kwinana Grain Terminal],” Ms Connolly said.

“We recognise that reinstating the lockout is a significant decision, but in light of and in response to ongoing industrial action taken by the workforce, it ensures operations can safely continue.”

Ms Connolly said CBH had made several offers to the unions in recent days which were not supported.

“CBH has been bargaining in good faith with the unions and bargaining representatives for the past seven months spanning 24 bargaining meetings.

“More recently, we have spent nearly four weeks engaged in comprehensive bargaining sessions to reach an agreement between all parties, including the last two weeks being facilitated by the Fair Work Commission.

“We provided a fair and reasonable offer to the union and employee bargaining representatives at the last FWC-facilitated meeting on Friday October 3, and then again in our response to the union’s counter-proposal on Tuesday October 7, which included an increase to the headline wage offer.

“Despite this, the MUA and the ETA advised CBH that the workforce did not support the offer.”

Mr Tracey said the recent proposal was “democratically voted upon by the workforce” and subsequently rejected.

“All but three workers rejected it, so it shows the strength of opinion in the workplace about the company’s substandard offer, so when they make another substandard counter-offer late last night and lock us out first thing this morning before we’ve had a chance to respond, it’s clear they don’t want to achieve a consensus outcome.”

Lockout impacts minimised

With harvest in CBH’s Kwinana zone just weeks away, Ms Connolly said CBH had been forced to bring in replacement workers to keep the terminal running during the lockout.

“While the business impacts of the industrial action have been minimised to date, with harvest around the corner we have had no option but to put in place an alternative workforce.

“We understand the impact that this situation has on our employees, their families, and the broader community.

“Our priority is to get a fair and sustainable deal done that works for all parties.”

Mr Tracey said the CBH staff who are union members remain ready to negotiate in good faith.

“A number of issues remain in dispute, but the union was working in good faith to resolve these differences through negotiation.

“This has been completely undermined by the company’s latest lockout and their brazenly deceitful and combative behaviour…”

He said the Kwinana terminal will play a critical role in handling the state’s upcoming bumper grain crop, and the lockout jeopardises timely port operations.

“This tantrum shows that CBH are not serious about bargaining in good faith and can’t be trusted to sit at this critically important juncture within the supply chain.

“The community, the farming sector, and the nation deserve better from CBH, not this corporate arrogance when supply chains and livelihoods are at stake.”

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