Over 400 highly skilled shipbuilders at BAE Systems Australia's Osborne Naval Shipyard walked off the job, protesting a pay deal deemed inadequate compared to industry standards. The protest, involving union members from AMWU, AWU, and ETA, underscores labor disputes over fair wages, with workers accusing the company of undervaluing their contributions to national defense.

Over 400 union workers at Osborne Naval Shipyard, employed by BAE Systems Australia, have walked off the job to demand a 30% wage increase, highlighting ongoing labor disputes and the struggle for fair working conditions.

An investigation by Action on Armed Violence revealed that BAE Systems has maintained trading relationships with 81 countries, including 13 flagged on the U.K. human rights abuse watchlist and additional regimes implicated in coups and civilian harm, raising significant ethical concerns regarding its arms deals with authoritarian regimes.

BAE Systems Australia has been implicated in arms and surveillance technology sales to numerous regimes with documented human rights abuses, including the provision of cyber-surveillance systems and lethal weaponry. The report details exports to countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, China, Indonesia, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia, raising serious ethical concerns over complicity in authoritarian repression.

BAE Systems Australia was awarded a contract to build Australia’s new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines as part of a defence and security cooperation agreement between Australia and the UK, signed on March 21, 2024. The deal, which reinforces strategic military collaboration and expands advanced defence capabilities, highlights the company's role in supporting a robust and potentially militaristic state apparatus.