Death to Yankee Unionists 

Dnarever wrote on Jan 14^th, 2019 at 10:23pm:


Oh I don't deny your 'right to withhold labour by employees',
but you see - not all employees want to do it your way only.
You do not represent the interests of all workers (be they white collar or blue) who seem able enough not to need a 'middle-man' to 'cash in' on them, to achieve their needs.

As expected, Coalition supporters want workers to be paid less and work under sweatshop conditions.

Wharfies vote to strike over 'attack' on pay and conditions   

14 January 2019
The Age


Hundreds of dock workers have voted to launch industrial action later this week, including a series of rolling strikes, over what they say is the “most severe attack on waterfront conditions in a generation”.

Unionised employees of stevedoring giant Hutchison Ports in Sydney and Brisbane backed a decision to take “broad-ranging” industrial action starting on Thursday – such as bans on specific duties and overtime, and a range of work stoppages – amid deadlocked negotiations with management over the terms of a new wage agreement.


Hutchison Ports is locked in a fresh dispute with its unionised workers in Sydney and Brisbane.

Hutchison Ports, which lost tens of millions of dollars in the past financial year, is seeking to drive down costs at its Australian port operations.

Its existing wage agreement pays waterfront workers an average of $150,000 in Sydney and $130,000 in Brisbane for working 30 to 33 hours a week, once allowances are factored in, as well as 12 per cent superannuation.


“Hutchison Ports Australia continues to negotiate in good faith with the union,” a spokesman for the company said.

“But the company’s position remains that it needs a more flexible workforce to improve its economic position and keep people employed.”

    We will not accept an agreement that rips us off and reduces our standard of living.
    MUA's Warren Smith

The union accuses Hutchison of refusing to back down from heavy-handed plans to slash staff wages by up to $10 an hour, strip away conditions, and automate or outsource a range of waterfront roles.   

“Our members refuse to sit back and watch as four-decades of hard-won conditions are stripped away by a greedy multinational whose only concern is maximising its own profits,” Maritime Union of Australia assistant secretary Warren Smith said.

“We will not accept an agreement that rips us off and reduces our standard of living, and the Maritime Union of Australia is committed to using every industrial and legal tool at our disposal in our fight to protect conditions and safety standards on the waterfront.”

Officials from the maritime union said some of the employer’s demands included a 2.5 per cent cut to superannuation; cuts to sick and paid parental leave; cuts to redundancy and long-service leave, and a $10-an-hour pay cut followed by a wage freeze, then wage rises of one per cent a year.   

The union has also raised safety concerns over the company’s “push to remove the full-time first-aiders”. 

More than 98 per cent of unionised workers at Hutchison Ports who participated in the union ballot voted in favour of taking industrial action, however, only 60 per cent of eligible workers cast a vote.

The industrial action on the wharves is scheduled to begin on Thursday, starting with bans on working overtime.

Hutchison Ports has applied to the workplace umpire, the Fair Work Commission, to extend the notice period the union must provide before any industrial action to five days.

In 2015, workers for Hutchison walked off the job in New South Wales and Queensland after the company sacked 97 staff via emails and text messages. The strike ultimately forced Hutchison to withdraw the job cuts.

The company and the union later reached a deal allowing for 60 voluntary redundancies and enhanced redundancy entitlements.

A Strike if a much needed last resort.

The right to withhold labour should always be available to all employees.