Patrick Terminals and the wharfies’ union have agreed to scrap the latter’s veto powers over new hires at a major container port in a deal the stevedoring giant hopes will put an end to industrial action at the docks.
An 11th-hour agreement was struck between Patrick and the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) ahead of a Monday hearing before the fair work umpire to terminate their previous pay deal, which required the company to get workers’ support for new hires at its Port Botany container terminal in Sydney.
The wharfies’ union and Patrick Terminals have reached a new pay deal.Credit:Dean Sewell
The new arrangement, which includes a 4 per cent pay rise in the first year and 2.5 per cent in the subsequent three years, is yet to be voted on by members or ratified by the Fair Work Commission.
But MUA assistant national secretary Jamie Newlyn said negotiations had taken place “at the highest level”, with involvement from national secretary Paddy Crumlin and Patrick chief executive Michael Jovicic.
“This comes in the wake of a long and protracted bargaining period throughout which the union has sought a fair, reasonable and mutually agreeable outcome for both Patrick Terminals’ management and their loyal employees,” Mr Newlyn said, describing Patrick’s bid to terminate the enterprise deal as “employer militancy”.
Mr Newlyn said the previous agreement requiring the union’s oversight of the employee intake was to “protect the integrity of the roster” so as not to overcrowd shifts and had been a point of contention during negotiations.
Patrick has withdrawn its Fair Work application to scrap the enterprise agreement as a result of the new deal, which will expire in 2025.
When he applied to tear up the pay deal in October, potentially forcing a return to minimum industry standards, Mr Jovicic said Patrick had endured dozens of instances of industrial action, including strikes, over two years as it tried to reach a new agreement.
The company has said the agreement should put an end to industrial action on the docks, which in November prompted Prime Minister Scott Morrison to foreshadow government intervention as supply chains were squeezed in the lead-up to Christmas.
“Patrick Terminals looks forward to the endorsement of the agreement by the MUA members and four years of stability on the waterfront,” a Patrick Terminals spokesperson said in a statement on Monday.
Mr Newlyn said it was illegal to undertake industrial action outside the bargaining period.
But he said while the union and Patrick, the players in the 1998 waterfront dispute, had brokered peace, the “opportunism of Scott Morrison must not be forgotten”.
“The Prime Minister sought to insert himself into the legitimate bargaining process in a disgraceful attempt to ignite an industrial dispute on the waterfront as a distraction from his negligence, dishonesty and failure,” Mr Newlyn said.
In a speech to the Australian Industry Group on November 30, Mr Morrison said the government was keeping a close eye on the industrial action and encouraged both parties to resolve their issues.
“At the same time, I can assure you that the government will take action, if needed, to protect the Australian economy from serious harm,” Mr Morrison said.
Mr Newlyn also took aim at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which released a major report showing that extremely restrictive deals between port operators and the union were cutting into productivity along with the union’s industrial campaign, damaging other businesses further down the supply chain.
The agreement follows an application to the Fair Work Commission last month by international shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk’s subsidiary, tugboat company Svitzer, to tear up its enterprise agreement with workers.
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