Is BHP discriminating against men?

Wouldn’t it be great to see a case that tested the limits of these “special measures provisions” and the dystopian gender equity framework that they prop up in Australia? It would be a real chance to strike a blow against the insidious gender politics taking over this country.  

Some background for those of you unfamiliar with how these equity goals operate in practice. BHP’s discrimination against men has been relentless with the company achieving much of this feminization of the workforce by advertising women-only positions across the company. Sometimes the ads target women with experience in industries like construction, mining, defence, agriculture, aviation etc. But BHP and other mining companies which have bought into this madness also hire women with no relevant experience, like hairdressers, farmers, teachers, nurses – and boast that they quickly train them to become skilled mining employers.

The 50% goal is not just some pie in the sky aspiration. Oh no. Executives’ jobs and bonuses are on the line if they don’t manage to push more women in and men out. There are strict quotas on hiring females and it won’t matter if you were just hiring the best candidates, if you fail to hire enough women you can expect repercussions, starting with loss of bonus pay.

The discrimination doesn’t stop at hiring – promotion also is more driven by gender than merit. The overall effect is that women are promoted to management, on average, 9 years earlier than men – according to an analysis of the mining industry by accounting firm BDO.

BHP is also leaning on their suppliers to fall into line with their policies like excluding males from some job vacancies, and imposing diversity demands, which an AFR  analysis described as  “onerous” on contractors.

There have been two cases of BHP being sued for sex discrimination by men which have attracted significant publicity. Burak Powers, a former manager within BHP’s Houston petroleum office, sued the company in a Texas Court, claiming punitive damages because he was passed over for promotion in favour of less qualified and experienced women.

Powers laid out the “systemic pattern of top-down sex discrimination” that resulted in his position supposedly being abolished, only to be recreated, minus an open interview process, and offered to a less qualified female worker. All this despite his being invited into BHP’s elite Future Emerging Leaders Program and receiving “uniformly positive” performance reviews. He subsequently applied for three other positions inside BHP which were apparently all given to less qualified females.

Another man seeking damages against BHP was a former manager for regional Caribbean, Adrian Purdy, who was instructed by the company to fill two vacancies with females. His affidavit recounts: “I was repeatedly informed by senior managers at BHP that it was of paramount importance to hire, retain and promote as many females as possible.” Mr Purdy said two women were subsequently “hired from outside the company, over numerous clearly better qualified males who were already employed at BHP”.  Mr Purdy was laid off after raising the matter in BHP’s in-house complaints portal.

BHP vowed to fight both cases but ultimately settled with Mr Powers out of court. There’s been no news about what happened with Purdy.

Over the years, I have received a steady stream of emails from people in the mining industry, alarmed at what is going on. See this story from a man who was doing plumbing training with another apprentice who happened to be female and indigenous:

Someone from BHP HR phoned her directly and begged her to come on board as the first female plumbing indigenous apprentice. She said she didn’t really want to but BHP kept phoning and eventually she took it. When I asked, ‘What do you actually do?’ she said that they gave her a house in the town not in the mine site, a brand-new Mercedes van, all rent and living expenses all paid for. She only had to work weekdays 7am to 3pm, just driving around changing tap washers all day at worker bathrooms. Her salary was $90,000 which for an apprentice is huge. As you finish your training we want to promote you immediately to supervisor, they said. She was telling me all this with a smile on her face. This boils my piss. Juxtapose that to the young guys in the class working long hours in filthy conditions in Perth earning next to no money.

Recently I spoke to a very cheerful young woman – I’ll call her Belinda - who had newly arrived at BHP’s showcase for gender diversity, the South Flank mine, where already 40% of frontline employees are female and 4 out of 6 senior managers. Belinda had formerly been in childcare but as a recent immigrant she leapt at the chance of trying her hand in this quintessential Aussie industry.