CFMEU district president Stephen Smyth says workers had rejected the company's proposed enterprise bargaining agreement after 16 months of negotiations.
Mr Smyth told the ABC the dispute was not about money and members were upset about the lack of consultation about rosters and housing arrangements.
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"It's about ensuring companies like BHP, who are earning $6 million a day in profit, put money back in (to the community) through entitlements and conditions ... ensuring job security, ensuring houses and accommodation is fixed up," he said.
Earlier this week, the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) told customers it could not meet its supply contracts, blaming floods in March and the ongoing strike action at all seven of its Bowen Basin mines.
The CFMEU has claimed the dispute is the company's own doing, so far costing almost $2 billion.
