FED:Union may exempt Qld from wharf strike

AAP General News (Australia)
04-07-2011
FED:Union may exempt Qld from wharf strike

SYDNEY, April 7 AAP - The maritime union says it may exempt Queensland from planned
national strikes if possible action hinders the flood recovery.

The dispute with Australia's biggest stevedoring company, Patrick, is set to begin
on Saturday unless it agrees to key demands on wages and safety from the Maritime Union
of Australia (MUA).

The dispute involving 2000 workers would affect ports in Sydney, Melbourne, Fremantle
and Brisbane, and could shape up as the biggest maritime strike since the heated 1998
waterfront dispute.

But the MUA's deputy national secretary Mick Doleman, who is negotiating with Patrick,
said the union may consider exempting the Brisbane port from the action.

"Where the recovery is under way, we will give consideration to exempting these areas,"

Mr Doleman told AAP on Thursday.

"If there's a clear demonstration our action will affect Queensland, we'll discuss
that with the Queensland government."

The commitment comes after Patrick divisional director Paul Garaty said the industrial
action would cripple productivity, and threaten the pace of flood recovery.

"If that action takes place over the next week it will affect some 33 ships and 35,000
containers," Mr Garaty told ABC Radio.

"That's at a time where, in a lot of rural areas, they're recovering from floods and
natural disasters.

"With the high value of the Australian dollar this is going to make it even more difficult
for people to get their products to market."

The dispute between Patrick and the MUA is set to escalate into bans on overtime, transfers
of stevedores between work sites and 24-hour stoppages.

Mr Doleman said Patrick had not returned his phone calls since the MUA told the company
on Tuesday afternoon it would take action unless its demands were met.

The MUA is pushing for a six per cent annual pay increase over three years, down from
a previous claim of 10 per cent, and more generous retirement benefits.

Patrick has offered a four per cent increase.

The union also wants a workplace safety co-ordinator, independent of Patrick's management,
arguing four deaths had occurred on wharves during the past five years.

"We want someone who will not be pressured commercially or otherwise," Mr Doleman said.

The industrial tribunal Fair Work Australia in February gave the MUA permission to
strike if the log-jam with Patrick could not be broken.

Patrick did not attend the hearing.

AAP saj/psm/

KEYWORD: WATERFRONT UPDATE

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