Pay & Wages
Thiess Pay Rates 2026: FIFO, Site & Award Floor Pay
What Thiess workers should be paid in 2026 — the Mining Industry Award floor by classification, casual loading, penalties, and where the Thiess enterprise agreements sit.
Who covers Thiess workers — award or agreement?
Thiess is the world's largest mining services contractor, running open-cut coal and metalliferous mines on behalf of owners across Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia, with equipment operators, maintainers, tradespeople and site staff mostly on FIFO or DIDO rosters.
Thiess bargains site by site, and our corpus holds a long list of Thiess agreements (below). The federal awards underneath are the Mining Industry Award 2020 (tabled) and, on coal sites, the Black Coal Mining Industry Award — the higher-paying of the two, whose 35-hour week convention is explained on our BHP page.
The federal awards relevant to Thiess roles:
- Mining Industry Award 2020 (MA000011)
Workforce snapshot. In the 2024-25 Workplace Gender Equality Agency reports, Thiess Pty Ltd reported 5,440 employees (part of the HOCHTIEF Australia Holdings Limited group, 19,731 employees in total, 12.8% casual and 19.8% women). Source: WGEA 2025 Public Data File, data.gov.au (CC-BY 3.0 AU).
Mining award floor (1 July 2026)
The Mining Industry Award 2020 (MA000011) publishes each grade two ways: the base weekly rate (÷38 = hourly) and an 'ordinary hourly' rate that folds in the award's all-purpose industry allowance. Both are shown:
| Classification | Base hourly | Ordinary hourly (incl. industry allowance) | Casual (base + 25%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry level (first 3 months) | $26.44/hr | $27.53/hr | $33.05/hr |
| Level 1 (basic — labourer, trainee operator) | $27.56/hr | $28.65/hr | $34.45/hr |
| Level 2 (intermediate — plant operator) | $28.58/hr | $29.67/hr | $35.72/hr |
| Level 3 (competent — experienced operator, trades assistant) | $29.45/hr | $30.54/hr | $36.81/hr |
| Level 4 (advanced — tradesperson) | $31.42/hr | $32.51/hr | $39.28/hr |
| Level 5 (advanced specialist) | $33.47/hr | $34.56/hr | $41.84/hr |
| Level 6 (dual trade) | $35.11/hr | $36.20/hr | $43.89/hr |
| Level 7 (dual trade instrumentation) | $36.53/hr | $37.62/hr | $45.66/hr |
Coal mines sit on the Black Coal Mining Industry Award instead, which uses a 35-hour week — our BHP pay rates page explains the difference. FIFO rosters add the award's overtime, shift and weekend loadings on top of these figures.
Source: Fair Work Commission modern awards pay database, current-operative rates (1 July 2026 annual wage review). Casual figures add the 25% casual loading.
The Thiess enterprise agreements
Enterprise agreements set rates above the award, with their own classification structures and allowances. Current Thiess agreements in our corpus (15 in total):
- Thiess Yilgarn Hub Operations Agreement 2025 — approved January 2026, nominal expiry 28 January 2030.
- Thiess Lake Vermont Mine Enterprise Agreement 2026 — approved August 2026, nominal expiry 3 August 2029.
- Thiess QCoal Northern Hub Enterprise Agreement 2025. — approved October 2025, nominal expiry 31 October 2028.
- Thiess QCoal Northern Hub Enterprise Agreement 2025. — approved October 2025, nominal expiry 31 October 2028.
- Thiess Mining Prominent Hill Mine Enterprise Agreement 2024 — approved May 2024, nominal expiry 29 May 2028.
- Thiess Mt Arthur Coal Enterprise Agreement 2024 — approved May 2024, nominal expiry 14 May 2028.
- Thiess Mt Holland Enterprise Agreement 2024 — approved April 2024, nominal expiry 12 April 2028.
- Thiess Curragh Mine Enterprise Agreement 2026 — approved March 2026, nominal expiry 30 March 2028.
Plus 7 more — search "Thiess" in our agreements database.
We don't reproduce agreement dollar figures here — the agreement covering your site, state and stream is the document to read. Find your agreement, then your classification, then your pay point, and compare it with your payslip. The award tables on this page are the floor every one of these agreements must beat.
Mining pay issues worth checking on any payslip
General award-compliance issues that come up across the mining sector. This is a checklist for your own payslip, not a finding about Thiess:
- FIFO roster averaging that quietly loses overtime or public holiday loadings.
- Wrong level for the competency actually held.
- Labour-hire workers paid below the site's directly employed crew for the same work — the same-job-same-pay rules now apply.
- Travel and standby time unpaid.
What to do if your pay looks wrong
Match your payslip to your classification in the agreement (or the award tables above), and price any gap with our back-pay calculator. Raise it in writing with payroll or your manager first — most underpayments are fixed at that step. Unresolved, the Fair Work Ombudsman (13 13 94) recovers underpayments at no cost, up to six years back, and your union can run the claim for you. Not sure which instrument covers you? Ask our AI advisor with your role and location.
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FairWork Mate is an independent Australian publisher of workplace-rights information. Our content is prepared with AI assistance and draws on primary sources — the Fair Work Act, modern awards, and Fair Work Commission and Fair Work Ombudsman material. It is general information, not legal advice.