AFTER THREE YEARS of negotiations, the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has reached a ground-breaking workplace agreement with the world’s largest stevedoring company, setting a new industry standard at container terminals in Sydney and Brisbane.

Workers will receive five 2.5 percent wage increases over the four year agreement once certified by the Fair Work Commission.

The agreement with Hutchison Ports Australia will see the introduction of 20 days paid domestic violence leave, the creation of permanent rosters, and the addition of a clause that gives the workforce the ability to find alternatives to redundancies in the event of an economic downturn.

MUA deputy national secretary Warren Smith said the negotiations had been among the hardest seen in the industry.

“This agreement will see job security strengthened at the terminals, with protection against job losses due to the implementation of automation, technology and contractors, along with a move to address insecure work with a cap on casual employees and an emphasis on rostered permanents and guarantee workers,” Mr Smith said.

“This agreement not only brings to an end three years of hard-fought negotiations, it sets new industry standards, not only for Australia, but around the world.

“The introduction of 20 days paid domestic violence leave is a significant victory that will reduce the financial hardship suffered by people dealing with the challenges of violence in the home.

“Nothing in this agreement was handed to us. It took three years of unwavering determination and united action from members at the Sydney and Brisbane terminals to achieve this victory," Mr smith said.

“These negotiations were among the hardest ever seen in our industry, with new claims from management threatening to derail discussions right until the end, but despite all these obstacles we have managed to achieve a ground-breaking agreement.

“We could not have achieved this outcome without the sacrifices of MUA members who were united in exercising their lawful right to undertake industrial action in defence of a fair agreement.

“Nothing was given to us for free, and while negotiators spent countless hours working towards this outcome it was made possible by the efforts of every rank and file member at Hutchison.”

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MARITIME workers will tomorrow protest against a decision by Australia’s largest towage operator, Svitzer Australia, to replace local tug crews at the Port of Geelong with fly-in fly-out labour hire workers.

Geelong workers who were made redundant by Svitzer in December last year will be joined by supporters from the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) to demand that local workers be given their jobs back rather than be replaced by a labour hire contractor.

The 18 workers who lost their jobs were shocked to discover that just six months after Svitzer told them it was departing the Port of Geelong, the company has contracted Strategic Workforce Solutions to use fly-in fly-out workers to restart marine towage services at the port.

MUA Deputy Victorian Branch secretary David Ball said it was outrageous that the largest operator of towage services in Australia, with a fleet of more than 100 tugs at 28 ports, was stripping jobs out of the Geelong community.

“Svitzer Australia tossed 18 local workers on the scrap heap just before Christmas, telling them they were abandoning the Port of Geelong,” Mr Ball said.

“Just six months later, we discovered that the company plans to restart operations using fly-in fly-out labour hire workers rather than providing jobs to the local community.

“It appears Svitzer never really intended to leave Geelong, they just manufactured this arrangement where they could terminate their entire local workforce and use a sham contracting arrangement with a labour hire company that has no experience in maritime towage to slash costs.

“Geelong is being robbed by this multinational company who wants to profit from providing towage services at our port, but not provide any jobs or economic benefits to our local community.

“The union has repeatedly attempted to negotiate with Svitzer to find a way to allow their viable reentry into Geelong, but the company refuses to work with the union.

“Svitzer has also refused to reinstate the workers they made redundant, despite these former tug crews being the most experienced people for the job, with exceptional knowledge of how to safely and efficiently undertake tug operations at the Port of Geelong.”

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RAIL WORKERS today called on new Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Minister Barnaby Joyce to block moves to shift the transport of domestic containerised freight from Australian trains onto foreign flagged ships.

Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) national secretary Mark Diamond said thousands of jobs in regional areas were at risk from a departmental proposal to further deregulate coastal trading laws, which would allow overseas-based ships to compete directly for domestic freight work.

“Barnaby Joyce has been returned to leadership of the National Party with a mandate to stand up for jobs in regional Australia.  As Minister for Transport, the jobs of regional rail workers are his responsibility," Mr Diamond said.

“The proposals put forward by his new department will make it easier for foreign-flagged vessels to operate in the Australian domestic freight market and compete directly with local rail operators.

“But it will be far from a level playing field: overseas shippers don’t have to pay Australian wages or meet Australian workplace standards.

“We are concerned these reforms, if adopted, could see the end trains carrying containerised freight in Australia.

“That means the National Party’s flagship infrastructure project, Inland Rail, is at risk of becoming a massive white elephant before it’s even built.”

Mr Diamond said Mr Joyce should start by ruling out any changes to coastal shipping that undermine the rail industry.

“Looking forward, rail workers want to see a level playing for the transport of containerised freight in Australia, and an industry plan to support growth in this sector into the future.”

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A GROWING NUMBER of small to medium-sized businesses that service the resources sector are having significant problems securing finance and insurance because of recent climate change-related policy changes by banks and insurers, the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) said today.

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said Queensland businesses which support the state’s $82.6 billion resources sector, particularly the all-important Mining, Engineering and Technology Services (METS) sector, are being disadvantaged.

“Insurers and banks are increasingly trying to appease activist shareholders by reducing or cutting ties with operators connected to resources,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“In some cases, insurance premiums are tripling, and the cost of credit is skyrocketing simply because a business is supplying goods or services to the resources sector. 

“The irony is that by restricting the ability of METS businesses to renew their insurance policies and access finance, these lenders and insurers are threatening the viability on the very sector that will play a leading role in Queensland’s transition to a low-emissions future.” 

In a presentation to the Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth Inquiry today, Mr Macfarlane said if resources-related businesses can’t get finance or insurance at a reasonable rate, jobs in the industry will be lost.

"Through our submission, the QRC is giving a voice to service companies, many of which are based in regional areas, to send a message that jobs will be lost because of increasingly unfair banking and insurance practices,” he said. ]

A recent survey of  QRC supply chain members, representing a combined workforce of 7,600, found:

• 75 percent said accessing banking or lending services has become much more difficult in the past two years; 
• 44 percent said that if these banking costs stayed at these levels for the next five years, they would be unlikely to continue operating; 
• 90 percent said they had experienced a major change in insurance as a result of working in the resources sector.

Mr Macfarlane said the QRC supports the Paris Agreement and emissions’ reductions targets, and that Australia’s well-regulated and environmentally sustainable resources sector can continue to thrive while meeting these targets. 

“Queensland is abundant in resources and has the potential to become a global renewable and low-emissions’ energy superpower, but resources companies need a viable METS sector to provide technical expertise and innovation to support our operations,” he said. 

“The QRC hopes this inquiry will encourage the banking and insurance sectors to work with their regional clients to implement practical reforms that will lower emissions and help keep exports rolling.”