A 48-hour strike is about to get underway (the weekend of 17 and 18 August) and this will be severely costly. Disruption is likely to occur as shipping companies are likely to distribute cargo to far-distant ports and there will be considerable rippling and cascading effects across Western Australia and, likely, further afield.
In relation to the framework adopted by the Office of Supply Chain Resilience, this issue either is now, or could develop into, a “Vulnerability” i.e. a problem in the supply chain, that is “Critical” i.e. it would have very harmful effects on the economy and the Australian people.
The key concern is if the parties to the dispute – Fremantle Port Authority, the Australian Maritime Officers’ Union and possibly the Maritime Union of Australia do not come to agreement.
A series of rolling strikes and other forms of industrial action would be severely detrimental and costly to the Western Australian economy, especially as supply chains are under stress from global geopolitical events.
The fastest, and probably cheapest, option to resolve this dispute is to concede an 18% pay rise to the affected workers over a three-year period.
Ministerial intervention in the form of terminating the industrial action may be warranted if the dispute rumbles one.
Ministerial intervention in the form of suspending the Coastal Trading (Revitalising of Australian Shipping) Act 2012 (Cwlth) would likely help with recovery.
Our supply chain ought to be a strategic strength however it is clear that it is in fact undermined by our greatest strategic weakness – our industrial relations environment, which is Australia’s biggest supply chain disruptor.
On a longer-term basis, it is clear that industrial relations reform – at least in relation to waterfront companies, is required. The key problem is that there is a great deal of uncertainty in the Australian logistics and supply chain sectors which is caused by our industrial relations environment.
Shipping Australia is liaising with the Fremantle Port Authority and also the Federal Government in relation to this ongoing situation.
