ASC chief Stuart Whiley attacked by union caricaturing him as the Devil

A personal union attack targeting the boss of Australia’s future nuclear-powered submarine builder and maintainer has been rejected.

A personal union attack lampooning the chief as the Devil of the Adelaide nuclear-powered submarine builder ASC, and calling for his sacking, has been condemned by the company.

About 300 Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) at ASC’s Osborne Naval Shipyard on Thursday escalated three weeks of daily stoppages over a pay claim to call for the sacking of ASC chief executive officer and managing director Stuart Whiley.

An AMWU social media campaign on X, formerly Twitter, included adding devilish horns and a tail to a picture of Mr Whiley and an animation of him frolicking in piles of gold coins.

This is millionaire Stuart Whiley who heads ASC. Hundreds of South Australian submarine workers across the AMWU, AWU & ETU critical to the survival of Australia’s future AUKUS submarine fleet have unanimously issued a vote of no confidence in the CEO over their pay disparity. pic.twitter.com/NzQKlmtjdg

— The AMWU (@theamwu) May 22, 2024

AMWU assistant state secretary Stuart Gordon demanded Mr Whiley be sacked, arguing he had recently secured a $250,000 pay rise, or 31 per cent, to earn a package of $1,084,725, but would neither increase workers’ pay nor meet with them.

But ASC, which in March was named as the joint constructor and sole maintainer of the nation’s future nuclear-powered submarine fleet, countered declaring the union comments were “not conducive to bargaining in good faith”.

ASC CEO Stuart Whiley just snagged a $250,000 wage rise out of a salary north of $1 million all from public money but he won't meet workers to discuss their pay disparity. SA submarine workers who are critical to Australia's defence are seeking their pay match their WA colleagues pic.twitter.com/eUKHR41e5l

— The AMWU (@theamwu) May 22, 2024

Mr Whiley insisted his executive team conducting pay talks was “normal and acceptable for a large company”, while ASC chairman Bruce Carter said the CEO had the complete confidence of the board.

“ASC has negotiated in good faith with the AMWU and its members. ASC’s CEO &

managing director Stuart Whiley has the complete confidence and support of the ASC

board in his handling of these negotiations and (it) rejects this personal attack by the AMWU,” Mr Carter said.

“ASC has adhered to the mandated negotiation process and has been open and proactive in

its dealings with the unions and their members.”

ASC chief executive officer and managing director Stuart Whiley. Supplied

In a highly personal statement, Mr Gordon said the hundreds of submarine workers were critical to the survival of the nuclear-powered submarines and had unanimously issued a no-confidence vote in the leadership of Mr Whiley – an ASC veteran of almost 35 years.

“Workers are fed up with Stuart Whiley’s personal self-interest. His massive pay increase has come at the sacrifice of the workforce, because for years ASC has degraded workers’ wages. He should be sacked effective immediately,” Mr Gordon said.

“Why is Stuart Whiley paid an eye-watering salary, that is north of $1 million from public funds, to oversee submarine workers who are not paid their worth, despite performing critical work in maintaining Australia’s naval defence system?”

The workers are about to start a $6.4bn life-of-type extension of the six Collins Class submarines built by ASC at Osborne, which will involve about 1500 people.

The union said members at ASC’s Osborne shipyard had rejected a 6.75 per cent pay rise offer, arguing this was about 11 per cent short of parity with their counterparts at ASC’s operations in Western Australia.

ASC said it had offered an average 12 per cent increase at the start of an agreement, with further opportunities for more increases through arbitration through the Fair Work Commission.