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Unions and carriers square off over Aussie port disputeUnions and carriers square off over Aussie port dispute

The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) has “condemned” carrier representative Shipping Australia Limited (SAL) for meddling in the country’s docker’s dispute.

Nick Savvides, Europe correspondent

January 16, 2025

2 Min Read
Container ship docked in port of Fremantle
Port of FremantleCredit: Marcus Hand

Ongoing contract negotiations between unions and employers had broken down, however, talks resumed this week, and the unions have agreed to cease protected industrial action (PIA) at all Australian ports, from 15 January, as a result.

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), an ITF affiliate, and a division of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU), will resume negotiations with conglomerate Qube, which owns a number of logistics businesses, including Patrick terminals.

SAL has called on Canberra to change regulations to prevent unions from “holding the entire nation to ransom”.

An ITF spokesperson hit back at SAL, claiming: ““The ITF condemns SAL for meddling in the Qube dispute and undermining collective bargaining. SAL’s actions harm Australia’s national interests and maritime workforce.”

SAL has called for staggered scheduling of strike action, “varied both by company and, for a large company, staggered by geographical location.”

This would prevent disruption to all the country’s trade at the same time, according to SAL.

“We also call for shorter, fixed, bargaining periods with an automatic referral to the Fair Work Commission for determination and settlement of disputes if the parties cannot reach an agreement,” added SAL.

Moreover, SAL wants government to legislate for longer notice periods ahead of industrial action, extending the notice from three days to 21 days, to allow cargo shipped from southeast Asia to arrive and be discharged from port.

The extended notice would allow “carriers, shippers, and Australian importers and exporters to work around disruptions,” said SAL.

In conclusion SAL has asked that government prohibits secondary union action taken in support of workers in dispute with their employer. 

The ITF was unmoved and SAL and its members to focus on shipping’s challenges: “Instead of interfering in domestic policy, SAL should put its energy into helping address international shipping’s real problems: tax avoidance, rogue operators exploiting seafarers, and the Flag of Convenience system that gives rise to dark and shadow fleets that are undermining the global maritime industry's integrity.”

Neither Qube nor the unions have commented on the resumption of talks.

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About the Author

Nick Savvides

Europe correspondent

Experienced journalist working online, in monthly magazines and daily news coverage. Nick Savvides began his journalistic career working as a freelance from his flat in central London, and has since worked in Athens, while also writing for some major publications including The Observer, The European, Daily Express and Thomson Reuters. 

Most recently Nick joined The Loadstar as the publication’s news editor to develop the profile of the publication, increase its readership and to build a team that will market, sell and report on supply chain issues and container shipping news. 

This was a similar brief to his time at ci-online, the online publication for Containerisation International and Container News. During his time at ci-online Nich developed a team of freelancers and full-time employees increasing its readership substantially. He then moved to International Freighting Weekly, a sister publication, IFW also focused on container shipping, rail and trucking and ports. Both publications were published by Informa. 

Following his spell at Informa Nick joined Reed’s chemical reporting team, ICIS, as the chemical tanker reporter. While at ICIS he also reported on the chemical industry and spent some time on the oil & gas desk. 

Nick has also worked for a time at Lloyd’s Register, which has an energy division, and his role was writing their technical magazine, before again becoming a journalist at The Naval Architect for the Royal Institution of Naval Architects. After eight successful years at RINA, he joined Fairplay, which published a fortnightly magazine and daily news on the website.

Nick's time at Fairplay saw him win the Seahorse Club Journalist of the Year and Feature Writer of the Year 2018 awards.

After Fairplay closed, Nick joined an online US start-up called FreightWaves. 

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