The remuneration report passed with more than 98 per cent support at the AGM this week. It recommended lifting the group chair's base payment to US$1,058,200 and board members' base payments to US$193,000.
Last week, BHP confirmed redundancies affecting up to 300 jobs at South Flank, Mining Area C, Newman and Jimblebar. The company said it regularly reviews how it can operate "safely, effectively and productively."
ETU WA secretary Adam Woodage said: "People working on the ground in the Pilbara made a sizable chunk of BHP's $15 billion dollar profit last year. The company has decided it will reward 300 of them with unemployment. Members of the board of directors moved a total of zero tonnes of iron ore last year."
He said the increase put the chair on a base of more than $1.5 million, described it as a 10 per cent rise, and accused BHP of having "one rule for board directors, and another for working people."
A BHP spokesperson said: "We are making some changes to ensure our WA iron ore business can continue to make a significant contribution to the Pilbara and WA and continue to be a major employer in the State. As we always do, we will seek to redeploy people into other roles elsewhere in the business where possible. We will be working directly with our people on what this change means for them."
Woodage also said wages and conditions at BHP's iron ore operations had gone backwards against the consumer price index and the market for more than a decade, and that electricians could earn more on construction sites in Perth and see their families each night. BHP and the Combined Ports Unions, which include the ETU, the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union and the Western Mine Workers Alliance, are in a pay dispute that led to strike action in Port Hedland earlier this year. The unions have voted for protected industrial action.