Workers in WA’s Pilbara iron ore mines in the 1970s went on strike more than the notorious coal miners. ‘We had industrial muscle and we used it. There was no fear,’ recounted one union delegate. Grassroots-led strikes often provoked the ire of union officials and politicians but dramatically improved workers’ lives. Yet this former bastion of militant unionism is today virtually un-unionised. An industry making super-profits is beset by insecure work, mental distress and sexual harassment.

How did this union power come about? What did it mean for the workers of the Pilbara and their communities? And how could it be so thoroughly destroyed?

This session will serve as a book launch for the newly published Striking Ore: The Rise and Fall on Union Power in the Pilbara (Monash University Publishing, 2025), which answers these questions.

Based on archival research and interviews with participants, including rank-and-file union members, shop stewards and organisers, Striking Ore focuses on the campaigns of workers themselves. It offers not only inspiration for socialists and activists but salient lessons for today’s trade union movement.

The launch will feature a panel discussion including author Alexis Vassiley, an industrial relations lecturer and Graeme Haynes, former Electrical Trades Union shop steward (delegate) at Robe River who participated in and led many of the events described.