Interestingly, it is reality and a powerful statement on the mess which has become Australian workplace relations and immigration rules.

The workers withholding their labour are the estimated 4000 who downed tools this week in seven of the mines operated by BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi under the BMA banner in Queensland.

The workers wanting to make a start in Australia are largely from India and China with two of the world’s richest people, Gautam Adani from India and Australia’s Gina Rinehart, pushing hard for the right to import foreign workers, initially in the construction phases of their new mines.

In theory, the newcomers could be jetted in to central Queensland and Western Australia from their overseas homes and jetted out for their time off and holidays.

Needless to say, the proposal has infuriated the union movement and politicians from both the left and the right.

But if you are an international visitor how logical it must seem.

Australia is short of workers with the latest numbers revealing a surprise fall in unemployment.

In the north of the country, anyone with a pulse can get a job but it also seems quite a few of those workers are more interested in a fight than in work.

Little wonder that mine bosses are keen to import foreign labour.

If the locals don’t want jobs, refuse to move north, or prefer to withdraw their labour until they get a bigger say in management decisions, such as rostering and shift breaks then what’s the alternative to looking overseas?

Unfortunately, the timing coincidence of the BMA walk-out and the Rinehart/Adani push for foreign workers means the seeds are being sown for a full-scale showdown between labour and capital.

Back in 1998 a similar situation evolved on the Australian waterfront which became a near-warzone in a worker versus bosses stand-off that was, in part, triggered by the importing of non-union labourers trained overseas.

The strike-breakers had, in effect, been jetted in.

Whether the waterfront dispute was caused by the outside strike-breakers, or the imported labour helped bring it to an end, is a debate which goes in circles.

The point is that a situation is being created whereby history might be repeated with someone in a more powerful position than The Hog drawing attention to the nonsense of Australian coal workers saying they don’t like the conditions under which they have to work, while foreign workers would be delighted to replace them.

So far, the importing of foreign labour is only being proposed as a way to fill short-term construction peaks but if the BMA workers opt to do more than stage their seven-day protest, it wouldn’t take much for Rinehart or Adani to widen their request to include a few mineworkers among those they’re seeking to import.

What’s happening at the BMA mines has been simmering for months, with unions keen to flex their muscles under Australia’s new and controversial labour laws administered by Fair Work Australia.

In some ways, the union claims to a greater say in decisions once the sole province of management is similar to the dispute which saw management ground all Qantas aircraft last year after a long period of on/off industrial action.

In time, BMA management could opt to go down the same runway as Qantas and already signalled some high cost mines might close if the owners were not permitted to operate them in the best interests of the business, rather than the best interests of the workforce.

If BMA does use the current strike as a reason to mothball one or two mines, it’s a fair bet the unions will seek to ratchet up the pressure and if that happens, it could really be game on with two potentially explosive situations set to blow.

They are:

• BMA management taking the Qantas option and closing all mines until management regains the right to manage; and
• Adani/Rinehart demanding the right to import construction labour and operating labour given the refusal of unionised Australian workers to accept management directions.

Interesting times, aren’t they?