The Australian Workers Union (AWU) has secured the right to represent workers in the negotiation of a collective agreement for workers at Rio Tinto’s Bell Bay Aluminum for the first time in two decades. Previously, the company had used individual contracts with higher pay in a bid to encourage workers to move away from union representation and the awards system. Recently, the Fair Work Commission declared that the majority of the company’s workers were in favour of collective bargaining. The AWU has foreshadowed that it aims to use the collective bargaining negotiations to “lock in” workers’ existing pay and conditions in the event Rio Tinto sells the subsidiary.