Shipping Australia has been advised that the protected industrial action by the waterfront union against the stevedore Qube will be removed from all ports from 0700 Wednesday 15 January 2025.
Commenting on the matter, Captain Melwyn Noronha, CEO of Shipping Australia commented: “we are pleased to see that the Protected Industrial Action will be withdrawn. Resumption of the movement of cargo can only be to the benefit of everyday Australian families if they can now get their essential goods delivered. We noted with particular sadness the report in the Western Australian newspaper that the union’s industrial actions had resulted in an Australian family being unable to receive delivery of mobility equipment for their disabled adult child.
“We hope that the parties can now move forward to an equitable and amicable deal to allow vital supply chain business to resume as normal. Unfortunately, there are other industrial actions underway in other parts of the Australian maritime sector, and looking forward, there are more to come. It is clear that the waterfront union has an ongoing programme of industrial actions planned and that Australia is subject to an ongoing, rolling, permanent and paralysing campaign of industrial action. Reform in this area is long overdue so that no single group, body, or entity has the power to hold the entire nation to ransom. Clearly, there needs to be a fundamental root-and-branch reform of industrial relations law & policy if Australia is to remain competitive on the world stage,” Captain Noronha concluded.
Shipping Australia therefore calls for enterprise bargaining at waterfront-related companies to take place on a staggered scheduled – varied both by company and, for large company, staggered by geographical location – so that no-one industrial action can disrupt all of Australia’s trade at once. 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.
The notice period that is given before strike action is currently three days. That period ought to be extended to at least 21 days, which would cover 14 days of sailing time to / from South East Asia, a further six days for cargo staging time, and a further one day of buffer-time. In conjunction with other measures, this extended notice would enable carriers, shippers, and Australian importers and exporters to work around disruptions. They, after all, are not the target of industrial action and should have the opportunity to minimise the impact they experience and it would, ultimately, benefit Australian families and businesses.
Finally, there needs to much more strict prohibitions on, and enforcement of, any secondary industrial actions or threats of industrial actions against companies that are not parties to the dispute.
All of these measures would, if enacted, preserve the rights of employees to take action and to bring pressure against their intended target – their direct waterfront employers, which would suffer a loss of revenue, customer dis-satisfaction, and business interruption – without unduly interrupting the flow of essential goods to everyday Australian families, vulnerable Australian citizens, and to Australian businesses.
