Port Hedland tug boat engineers have rejected a direct pay offer from Teekay Shipping, increasing the threat of a strike this weekend and shutting the nation's busiest minerals export port.
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It is understood 85 per cent of engineers, or mechanics, voted against the pay deal, which was similar to terms accepted by deckhands and skippers earlier this month.
The union representing the engineers, or mechanics, plan to go on strike on Saturday after serving industrial notices on Teekay late on Tuesday.
The strike by members of the Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers is expected to last four hours, minimising the impact to BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals Group.
Teekay and the AIMPE are expected to continue negotiations today (Wednesday) at the Fair Work Commission.
There were two votes cast in favour of the deal, representing 2 per cent of the members while 14 per cent, or 9 members, did not vote. Fifty-two mechanics rejected the pay offer.
The mechanics were prevented from taking a planned strike last week until its members could vote on the pay deal from Teekay. The union recommended its members vote against the offer.
AIMPE senior national organiser Andrew Williamson took aim at the miners for ramping up production that was driving up workloads.
"It's (the ballot result) an emphatic outcome and in no small way a function of excessive hours in the Port because of the decision of the miners to ramp-up throughput," Mr Williamson said.
He backed recent comments by West Australian premier Colin Barnett, who warned BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto to "remember who their landlord is" as he hit out at their strategy to boost production amid falling iron ore prices.
"We agree with Mr Barnett and his lament last month that at a time of a declining, soft market it is passing strange to elevate export volumes," Mr Williamson said.
BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals Group rely on Port Hedland to ship iron ore exports from their massive Pilbara operations.
Industrial action in Western Australia's far north has intensified this year as a wave of enterprise bargaining agreements expire.
Maritime Union of Australia workers walked off the job on vessels operated by marine group Farstad, which services oil and gas projects off the North West coast including Chevron's $29 billion Wheatstone project.
Farstad Asia Pacific executive vice president Wayne Aitken questioned the MUA's tactics in the dispute.
He said the MUA told Fair Work it would concede to roster demands imposed across the broader industry but later issued a media release insisting its push for roster changes were part of protecting the mental health of its members.
"We can't understand why the MUA would choose to tell us, the media and the Fair Work Commission totally different things," Mr Aitken said.
"The MUA's transparency and credibility seems to be compromised."
MUA WA branch assistant secretary Will Tracey hit back saying Farstad's comments revealed an employer who is "resorting to attacks on the messenger".
"We have been negotiation for almost tow years and it shouldn't surprise anyone that family friendly rosters are becoming more important, the longer these projects go for and the more time workers spend away from their families," Mr Tracey said.
About 300 cooks, stewards and seafarers aboard 25 Farstad vessels took part in the protected one day strike on Tuesday.
The workers earn between $180,000 and $240,000 per year.
About 22 marine vessel operators are trying to strike a deal with the MUA covering offshore services workers.
Julie-anne Sprague is a reporter with the Australian Financial Review. You can follow her on Twitter @JASprague.
