Forum

 
  Back to OzPolitic.com   Welcome, Guest. Please Login or Register
  Forum Home Album HelpSearch Recent Rules LoginRegister  
 

Pages: 1 2 
Send Topic Print
Union Dispute Workers Anger Set To Boil Over (Read 918 times)
whiteknight
Gold Member
*****
Offline


Australian Politics

Posts: 7593
melbourne
Gender: male
Union Dispute Workers Anger Set To Boil Over
Sep 23rd, 2020 at 7:55am
 
Workers anger set to boil over as Port Botany union dispute escalates   Huh



September 22 2020
Maritime Union of Australia
Ships lines workers in Port Botany have declared today that they will “do anything it takes” to protect their jobs from scab operator Port and Harbour Services.

Maritime Union of Australia Sydney Branch Deputy Secretary Paul Keating said: “We will defend our members’ right to work – no matter what the cost. We call on Caltex and all maritime industry players to withdraw all relations with this pariah company.”
In the midst of union EBA negotiations in February this year, mooring company NMS Botany closed its doors, sacking its entire unionised workforce. The owners blamed COVID-19 and market conditions for the decision.
Six months later, the owners re-launched the company under the name Port and Harbour Services and commenced work in Kurnell and Port Botany without a union agreement.
“Shutting down a company to try and dodge paying industry rates and undermine competitors is the oldest trick in the book,” Mr Keating said.   Sad
“This kind of bottom feeding behavior will never be allowed to take root in the Sydney maritime industry.


“What we see here yet again is an example of a company using the excuse of the COVID pandemic in the most cynical way.”
Ports and Harbour Services have got a contract with fuel distributor Caltex to moor and unmoor ships carrying fuel into Sydney from Monday 21 September 2020. Since then MUA members have been campaigning against every vessel on land and at sea.
“This is an industrial dispute, and we’re seeing NSW Water Police escorting scab vessels, aiding and abetting an employer that is trying to take food from the mouths of union-members’ families,” Mr Keating said.   Sad
“This is only the beginning, this fight will not end until we see this Company gone. If Caltex and Ports and Harbour Services think that we’re going away they have got one hell of a shock coming. This scab company thinks they can just sail in and do whatever they want. Well we will see about that.”
The dispute with this mooring company has come in the context of building tensions with container stevedoring operators in Port Botany.
“Port and Harbour Services seem to think that the MUA is distracted by what’s happening with the stevedores and they can slip under the radar,” Mr Keating said.


“They have badly underestimated how seriously our members take this kind of threat.”
This dispute comes at a time that Caltex Australia is seeking to distance itself from American style anti-union corporate behavior by rebranding as Ampol.
“This is classic American style behavior we’ve come to expect from multinational oil-barons. This is Caltex’s chance to change its ways and do the right thing by Australian workers,” Mr Keating said.
“Solidarity and support has begun to flow from far and wide. This kind of behavior flies in the face of the values of our communities, and our communities will not tolerate it. The port communities and its surrounds despise scabs and the companies that employ them. There should be laws that protect Australian workers from sham contracting, phoenix companies and police-protected union busting.
“We will never allow union busting in Port Botany — not now, not ever.”
Further community actions on land and at sea will be escalating over the coming days if Caltex or any other company does not cancel its contracts with Port and Harbour Services.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Grappler Truth Teller Feller
Gold Member
*****
Offline


Australian Politics

Posts: 79545
Proud pre-1850's NO Voter
Gender: male
Re: Union Dispute Workers Anger Set To Boil Over
Reply #1 - Sep 26th, 2020 at 7:34am
 
Gee - and all this time I thought the little rat weasel Howard The Coward had sworn on his mother's grave that no agreement would lower real incomes and rates of pay etc or reduce conditions, but must meet a basic standard that left nobody worse off.....

Amazing - who'd 've thunk that the enormous grey areas in LurkChoices and 'misunderstanding' on the part of 'management' and lack of genuine oversight and correction by 'authorities' would lead to those things happening over and over?? 

You'd've thought it was the plan after all, wouldn't you - but only a cynic would think that?

Back to top
 

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
― John Adams
 
IP Logged
 
whiteknight
Gold Member
*****
Offline


Australian Politics

Posts: 7593
melbourne
Gender: male
Re: Union Dispute Workers Anger Set To Boil Over
Reply #2 - Sep 26th, 2020 at 7:52am
 
Breakthrough in waterfront dispute as largest container terminal operator flags agreement with union  Smiley



September 25 2020
Maritime Union of Australia
A breakthrough in negotiations between the Maritime Union of Australia and the nation’s largest container terminal operator is set to deliver a new workplace agreement by the end of September, ending long-running industrial negotiations. 

DP World Australia, which operates container terminals in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Fremantle, has notified workers that it anticipates finalising workplace agreements with the union by 30 September.
The progress to resolve the long-running dispute follows productive negotiations between the MUA and DPWA this week.
The union last week agreed to suspend all forms of planned industrial action at the terminals as a show of good faith in an effort to assist with the finalisation of agreements for the four terminals.
MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin said the breakthrough demonstrated that the proper application of bargaining was capable of resolving long-running, complex disputes.
“By meeting together this week to bargain in good faith, DP World Australia and the MUA have been able to achieve a significant breakthrough, reaching an in-principle agreement that both sides hope to finalise by the end of this month,” Mr Crumlin said.


“After two years of difficult negotiation, this is a significant breakthrough that will provide industrial certainty at Australia’s largest container terminals.
“We are currently working with the company to turn this in-principle agreement into a final document that will lock in fair and productive outcomes for workers and the company over the next four years.
“Efforts over the last week have shown that when both sides sit down in a mature fashion to bargain in good faith, it delivers results.
“This breakthrough outlines a path for other stevedoring companies to resolve outstanding issues, rather than beat up public anxiety in an effort to drive political agendas or attempt to gain unfair and cynical leverage in negotiations.
“Our members have worked throughout the COVID crisis to keep the economy ticking over, and their efforts to implement separation, segregation and sanitisation protocols ensured critically important maritime supply chains remained operational.
“We remain committed to delivering increased and demonstrated best practice productivity on the waterfront, but only as part of a social contract with the workforce that delivers improved conditions and a shorter working week.”
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Grappler Truth Teller Feller
Gold Member
*****
Offline


Australian Politics

Posts: 79545
Proud pre-1850's NO Voter
Gender: male
Re: Union Dispute Workers Anger Set To Boil Over
Reply #3 - Sep 26th, 2020 at 12:29pm
 
Why is it so hard, do you think, for managements to actually work out a proper agreement the first time around, given that the rules are pretty simple - just don't reduce incomes below required and don't swipe at proper conditions without due compensation and don't reduce safety considerations? 

Do they just love the drama of 'industrial dispute'? 

Do they want to use it to swipe at unions over and over?

Do they see themselves as fearless crusaders against the communist hordes outside their door?

Do they just run on crisis management perpetually - when there is no crisis, create one so as to feel 'justified' in their position.

Do they 'need' to 'earn' their bloated salaries etc by making it seem such simple things as abiding by the rules is a hard and long task under extreme stress?

Or are they just incompetent?
Back to top
 

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
― John Adams
 
IP Logged
 
Jasin
Gold Member
*****
Offline



Posts: 45560
Gender: male
Re: Union Dispute Workers Anger Set To Boil Over
Reply #4 - Sep 26th, 2020 at 1:14pm
 
I'ld like to see the Australian Union Movement go to a West African nation full of Bantus and work that country into a better 'unionised' examples. Bah Humbug!  Grin

In times like this - Employees and Employers both can no longer afford to deal with Unionism taking its cut. People are desperate to make a living and apparently they can't 'work' without being aggressively intimidated, abused, attacked and more from Unionised Workers.
Anyone should have the Right to Work without being extorted by the Unions as if they were Mafia running the local Wharves.

Australian Business will find it harder if the Union Movement keeps taking its cut and forcing high expenditures. The Viral and Economic Crises of the world is more important than Union wellbeing.

You wanna sit on the side-line for a pay rise from a Company or Business that is struggling to survive in these tough Economical times? Go ahead, but don't stop other people from finding work to feed their families, as they take the field.

Didn't know people willing to work are 'Scabs'?

You wanna price yourself out of the market for just striking, not working. Go ahead. I know many a football team that has told one of their Stars that expect 'more money' to be on their bike.
Back to top
 

AIMLESS EXTENTION OF KNOWLEDGE HOWEVER, WHICH IS WHAT I THINK YOU REALLY MEAN BY THE TERM 'CURIOSITY', IS MERELY INEFFICIENCY. I AM DESIGNED TO AVOID INEFFICIENCY.
 
IP Logged
 
Grappler Truth Teller Feller
Gold Member
*****
Offline


Australian Politics

Posts: 79545
Proud pre-1850's NO Voter
Gender: male
Re: Union Dispute Workers Anger Set To Boil Over
Reply #5 - Sep 26th, 2020 at 1:16pm
 
JaSin - you're way out of line and far from reality there... in just about every way.
Back to top
 

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
― John Adams
 
IP Logged
 
whiteknight
Gold Member
*****
Offline


Australian Politics

Posts: 7593
melbourne
Gender: male
Re: Union Dispute Workers Anger Set To Boil Over
Reply #6 - Sep 26th, 2020 at 1:42pm
 
Well said Ye Grappler, yes people have a right to belong to a union.   Smiley
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Jasin
Gold Member
*****
Offline



Posts: 45560
Gender: male
Re: Union Dispute Workers Anger Set To Boil Over
Reply #7 - Sep 26th, 2020 at 5:25pm
 
And Unions don't have a right to prevent others from Working, when they will not. Unions want to be the premier 'business' that drains and feeds off other businesses and industries. People have a right to work and not be Unionised like a CCP cultural cleansing. People should not have to tolerate violence and abuse by Unionised Workers from the sidelines. The Police know who's in the right.
Back to top
 

AIMLESS EXTENTION OF KNOWLEDGE HOWEVER, WHICH IS WHAT I THINK YOU REALLY MEAN BY THE TERM 'CURIOSITY', IS MERELY INEFFICIENCY. I AM DESIGNED TO AVOID INEFFICIENCY.
 
IP Logged
 
Grappler Truth Teller Feller
Gold Member
*****
Offline


Australian Politics

Posts: 79545
Proud pre-1850's NO Voter
Gender: male
Re: Union Dispute Workers Anger Set To Boil Over
Reply #8 - Sep 26th, 2020 at 6:47pm
 
Jasin wrote on Sep 26th, 2020 at 5:25pm:
And Unions don't have a right to prevent others from Working, when they will not. Unions want to be the premier 'business' that drains and feeds off other businesses and industries. People have a right to work and not be Unionised like a CCP cultural cleansing. People should not have to tolerate violence and abuse by Unionised Workers from the sidelines. The Police know who's in the right.


Show me a Union that prevents people from working - for every such isolated incident, I will show you an endless array of management preventing people from working because they are Union members.

This very issue here is just such a case in point.

Violence from the sidelines?  Which is the greater violence - waving a placard at a scab bus or stealing another man's livelihood, as this management have done to many, and the food off his family table for a very short term gain, after which it is likely the 'management' will turf scabs anyway and return to normal.

Why do they even bother given that the guaranteed minimums must be met in any deal?  Just for the fun and drama - drama queens for management, just like in the building industries?**

Did-ums - poor widdle scab/strikebreaker can't take the heat?  There's the door out of the kitchen...

**  My son is a tradie on building sites - he is an excellent worker, and his boss doesn't short-change him - the boss contracts so many hours to do a certain job - Boy has done it in half the time at times, but the boss insists on paying him the full contracted hours worth - the boss still gets his cut anyway, but that's a good boss, and they have a good working relationship built on trust and good work.  Pity some other managers couldn't learn the ropes before taking control of a situation they cannot handle.

Back to top
 

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
― John Adams
 
IP Logged
 
whiteknight
Gold Member
*****
Offline


Australian Politics

Posts: 7593
melbourne
Gender: male
Re: Union Dispute Workers Anger Set To Boil Over
Reply #9 - Oct 1st, 2020 at 7:27am
 
Wharfies make peace offer to end pay dispute   Smiley
September 30 2020
New Daily

The wharfies union is offering a peace deal to end its industrial action at Sydney’s Port Botany after the federal government accused it of extortion.

The deal is conditional on Patrick Terminals agreeing to a 2.5 per cent pay rise for workers when the parties go before the Fair Work Commission on Wednesday for a conciliation hearing.

The Maritime Union of Australia had been seeking a pay rise of 6 per cent.

The union proposal would mean the company’s existing workplace agreement was extended for 12 months – maintaining existing terms and conditions – while providing a “reasonable” 2.5 per cent pay rise, the MUA said in a statement on Wednesday.

“When the MUA and Patrick sit down for a conciliation hearing before the Fair Work Commission today, the union will be putting forward this genuine, reasonable, and fair peace offer that could bring the current dispute to an immediate end,” MUA national secretary Paddy Crumlin said.

The MUA has been accused of crippling operations at Patrick’s Port Botany facilities and risking nationwide medical shortages because of the action it has undertaken during the past month, including a ‘work to rule’ policy that includes no overtime.


The union said extending the existing agreement for a year would prevent any form of protected industrial action from occurring, providing certainty for Patrick, workers, and the Australian community.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison weighed into the dispute, accusing the wharfies’ union of holding the country to ransom over its 6 per cent wage rise claim.

“We cannot have the militant end of the union movement effectively engaging in a campaign of extortion against the Australian people in the middle of a COVID-19 recession,” he said.

Patrick Terminals chief executive Michael Jovicic said the industrial action had reduced the company’s operations in Sydney to 50 or 60 per cent of usual levels and has caused a backlog of 90,000 containers.

“I’m getting phone calls every day and night from importers and exporters complaining about this industrial action,” he told the ABC on Tuesday.

Mr Crumlin said if Patrick was serious about resolving the dispute in the interest of customers and the broader community, it would accept the union’s offer.

“The truth is, this dispute has never been about money, it’s been about Patrick’s desire to slash the conditions of their workforce under the cover of the COVID crisis,” he said.

“If the company steps back from their proposal to slash 50 pages of conditions from the current agreement – clauses that govern things like rosters, hours of work, and family-friendly provisions – we could have an agreement today that ends this dispute.”
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Captain Nemo
Gold Member
*****
Offline


Australian Politics

Posts: 8344
Melbourne
Gender: male
Re: Union Dispute Workers Anger Set To Boil Over
Reply #10 - Oct 1st, 2020 at 10:08am
 
The greedy bastard crane jockeys need to pull their greedy heads in.

Current conditions:

$160,000 pay
$20,000 super
35 hour week
3 months annual leave.

Shocked
Back to top
 

The 2025 election could be a shocker.
WWW  
IP Logged
 
Captain Nemo
Gold Member
*****
Offline


Australian Politics

Posts: 8344
Melbourne
Gender: male
Re: Union Dispute Workers Anger Set To Boil Over
Reply #11 - Oct 1st, 2020 at 5:02pm
 
Breaking news ...

Those greedy bastards have now called off their "go-slow" action.  Cool
Back to top
 

The 2025 election could be a shocker.
WWW  
IP Logged
 
Jest
Gold Member
*****
Offline


Australian Politics

Posts: 1399
NSW South Coast
Gender: male
Re: Union Dispute Workers Anger Set To Boil Over
Reply #12 - Oct 1st, 2020 at 5:23pm
 
Grappler Truth Teller Feller wrote on Sep 26th, 2020 at 1:16pm:
JaSin - you're way out of line and far from reality there... in just about every way.


JaSin is racing himself to the bottom and it should come as no surprise that he's losing. No matter where you look, every industry has business associations that work to advance their interests. The farmers federation, the small business association, the Chamber of commerce, the banking association and they do it why? Because working collectively to advanced their interests makes them better off!! But Jasin knows better when it comes to workers. JaSin is a hand to mouth kinda guy. Why pay unions $10 a week so you dont have to bargain with a multinational company on your own. No bright spark JaSin thinks its much better to keep that money and get instant gratification by buying yourself a half a ticket to the movies. Sure it does mean that next time you get called into the office and told by Management that they're cutting your pay by 20% and increasing your hours, you wont have any bargaining power on your own, but wasn't that half a movie great.

If you ever wondered who ads like this work on, wonder no more

Back to top
 

Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.
 
IP Logged
 
cods
Gold Member
*****
Offline


Australian Politics

Posts: 88048
Re: Union Dispute Workers Anger Set To Boil Over
Reply #13 - Oct 1st, 2020 at 5:42pm
 
lets say thank you for doing the right thing....

the unions think they are doing the right thing by their members.....in this case way out of line because the whole country is suffering....maybe this will encourage them to look at the bigger picture....wharfies as far as I know earn huge money....
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Captain Nemo
Gold Member
*****
Offline


Australian Politics

Posts: 8344
Melbourne
Gender: male
Re: Union Dispute Workers Anger Set To Boil Over
Reply #14 - Oct 3rd, 2020 at 12:39pm
 
cods wrote on Oct 1st, 2020 at 5:42pm:
lets say thank you for doing the right thing....

the unions think they are doing the right thing by their members.....in this case way out of line because the whole country is suffering....maybe this will encourage them to look at the bigger picture....wharfies as far as I know earn huge money....


Why yes, yes they do ...

Current conditions:

$160,000 pay
$20,000 super
35 hour week
3 months annual leave.  Shocked
Back to top
 

The 2025 election could be a shocker.
WWW  
IP Logged
 
Pages: 1 2 
Send Topic Print