SHIPPING movements at ports around Australia will halt for four hours today as employees of tug company Svitzer take part in an online enterprise bargaining report-back meeting with their three unions and ACTU secretary Sally McManus.
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Svitzer, a subsidiary of Danish maritime multinational AP Moller - Maersk, is the sole provider of tug services in the Port of Newcastle, with eight tugs in service at any time to provide around-the-clock towing to the coal industry and other big ships using the port.
Newcastle Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) secretary Glen Williams said yesterday that about 110 members of the MUA, the Australian Institute of Marine & Power Engineers and the Australian Maritime Officers Union were taking protected action.
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Mr Williams said the four-hour stoppage would start at 11am and the report-back meeting, by Zoom, at noon.
He said an exemption had been granted to ensure the HMAS Brisbane was able to enter the port as scheduled this morning.
Mr Williams said Svitzer was by far the biggest tug operator in Australia, employing more than 440 people all up. He said the existing enterprise agreement had expired in 2019 and a new agreement had been "close to agreement" in 2020 when Covid hit and the company changed tack.
It had since applied to the Fair Work Commission to terminate the existing agreement. Ms McManus said it was an "appalling" tactic that could cut earnings in half if crew were forced back on to the award as a result.
"Weeks ago these people rescued a stricken bulk carrier," Ms McManus said.
Svitzer did not respond to requests for comment yesterday but has justified its position, telling the commission it had "lost tenders and withdrawn from some ports" because of the "uncompetitive" 2016 agreement.
Svitzer objected to a union application for company documents on the grounds that they were "confidential and commercially sensitive", but the commission ordered some to be handed up.
Mr Williams said the termination application was to have started on Monday but the commission moved it yesterday to December.
He said the unions had agreed to conciliation talks and were waiting for Svitzer's response.
Svitzer sent word of the stoppage to its customers, saying it was "very disappointed" at the "impact on the supply chain" but i would do what it could to minimise disruption.
"The enterprise agreement termination application is being pursued following the failure of bargaining and to create stability for our employees, customers and the business," the company said.
MUA national secretary Paddy Crumlin said members of the three unions representing crew, captains and engineers were united against Svitzer's "militant" action.
"While theoretically employers and unions should negotiate a replacement agreement before the expiration of an old one, Svitzer Australia has engaged in almost three years of managerial militancy by refusing to negotiate, lodging a laundry list of unreasonable demands, and threatening to slash the pay of its seagoing workforce by almost 50 per cent," Mr Crumlin said.
Mr Crumlin, who also heads the International Transport Workers Federation, called on the company's global management to intervene.
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Ian Kirkwood
Reporting journalist at the Newcastle Herald since 1987. Editorial writer, general reporter, industrial relations, industry and coal.
Reporting journalist at the Newcastle Herald since 1987. Editorial writer, general reporter, industrial relations, industry and coal.
