Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) said that its members at Patrick Stevedores in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Fremantle will take protected industrial action following more than 18 months of negotiations over a new enterprise agreement (EA).
MUA Assistant National Secretary, Jamie Newlyn said management at Patrick had made a series of exaggerated and untrue claims about the breakdown of talks over a new agreement and instead of suggesting Christmas was at risk, the company should stop trying to alarm the public.
“The truth is there is ample capacity for other stevedoring companies on the Australian waterfront to load and unload cargo and we don’t accept that there is any threat that imported goods will be in short supply due to the commencement of protected industrial action by our members,” added Newlyn and went on to note that Patrick had claimed they would “roll-over” the existing EA but had insisted on changes that their workforce would not accept including increased casualisation that would limit future secure employment opportunities.
Despite claiming a loss of market share, Patrick is recording record profits by price-gouging through Terminal Access Charges and other shipping fees which are adding to the cost of goods for customers and Australian consumers, according to Newly, who highlighted that productivity is at a high and Protected Industrial Action is “a last resort to finalise an agreement that is almost 18 months past expiry.”
“Patrick employees are rightly frustrated at corporate tactics to deny a modest pay rise and remove previously agreed conditions on secure jobs,” said Newly and pointed out that “Had the CEO not intervened in the Port Botany bargaining, an agreement would have been reached locally.”
Meanwhile, Maersk has announced that as Patricks terminal Melbourne has received industrial action notices from MUA for 12 hour stoppages every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in October in addition to ban on overtime and shift extensions, a delay of five to six days on an average is expected for the next month for its vessels calling Melbourne.
This is in addition to the industrial action notices already served in Fremantle, Brisbane and Sydney for various bans, noted the Danish carrier.
“We are assessing the situation and working on arrangements to mitigate the impact to our vessels,” added Maersk, which expects an impact on the below vessels:
| Arr. Date / Arr. Time | Arr. Voy | Vessel Name | Dep. Voy | Dep. Date / Dep. Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2021-10-02 / 22:30
|
133S
|
SAFMARINE BAYETE
|
139N
|
2021-10-04 / 07:00
|
|
2021-10-04 / 06:30
|
134S
|
SEALAND MICHIGAN
|
138N
|
2021-10-05 / 23:00
|
|
2021-10-07 / 06:30
|
138S
|
MAERSK NANSHA
|
140N
|
2021-10-08 / 15:00
|
|
2021-10-08 / 15:00
|
134S
|
SPIRIT OF SYDNEY
|
140N
|
2021-10-10 / 02:30
|
|
2021-10-08 / 17:31
|
136A
|
POHORJE
|
138R
|
2021-10-09 / 22:30
|
|
2021-10-13 / 06:30
|
136S
|
MOL PROFICIENCY
|
140N
|
2021-10-15 / 02:30
|
|
2021-10-13 / 14:30
|
135S
|
GSL MELITA
|
139N
|
2021-10-15 / 09:45
|
|
2021-10-15 / 15:00
|
135S
|
OLUF MAERSK
|
141N
|
2021-10-17 / 02:30
|
|
2021-10-20 / 23:00
|
137S
|
MOL PRESENCE
|
141N
|
2021-10-22 / 17:30
|
|
2021-10-22 / 00:30
|
137A
|
MSC ADITI
|
139R
|
2021-10-23 / 05:31
|
|
2021-10-22 / 14:30
|
136S
|
SPIRIT OF AUCKLAND
|
142N
|
2021-10-24 / 06:00
|
|
2021-10-26 / 07:00
|
138S
|
PL GERMANY
|
142N
|
2021-10-28 / 01:30
|
