Maritime Union of Australia industrial action

One of Australia's most militant unions, the MUA, is at it again.

One hopes some read the recent excellent 'The Australian' article by Janet Albrechtsen re a competitor to QUB in Sydney, Hutchison Ports, caving in to the MUA and continuing to give the latter the right to select employees. Outrageous!

Some articles are paywalled on industry websites but the MUA is attacking QUB's Patrick Terminals (jointly owned with Brookfield Infrastructure Partners):. Here's a summary from a site by Avanti:

Statement from Patrick Terminals regarding the current status of negotiations with the MUA:

• Patrick has reached agreement with local MUA representatives in Brisbane and Melbourne, however, Sydney and Fremantle deals are yet to be agreed to by the MUA.
• Patrick has made a formal offer to the MUA of annual 2.5% increases across a four-year term for their members. The MUA are yet to respond to this offer and the ball is in their court.
• Patrick has been prepared to pursue an agreement with a limited number of changes in the hope that agreement could be reached with minimal disruption to customers and the general supply chain.
• The only key item from Patrick has been for the right to recruit employees as required to operate our business. The present agreement means the MUA must agree for recruitment to occur and this process has been extenuated by the MUA taking on average 7 months before Patrick can start a recruitment process.

Patrick Terminals – Sydney AutoStrad
• Sydney Terminal delays have increased to approx. 6.2 days.