The exclusive Caterpillar dealer in Queensland, Northern Territory and Papua New Guinea, Hastings aimed to implement up to a 25% pay cut for some workers through a new enterprise agreement with the Queensland Resources Council supporting the move.

"It's tough to take a pay cut but people are opting for taking home an attractive wage rather than no wage at all,” QRC CEO Michael Roche said a fortnight ago.

According to CQ News, Hastings put two separate agreements out to a vote of employees despite there being a substantial number of clauses “requiring further discussions”

“The results of the ballot were released this Tuesday with both agreements being voted down by employees,” the newspaper reported on Friday.

“The company is yet to release the full breakdown of how workers voted.”

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union secretary Rohan Webb said the workforce wanted a single agreement with fair conditions and called for Hastings Deering to come back to the bargaining table.