From Hong Kong to Hamburg, wharfies operate a labour aristocracy that controls the critical chokepoints of the ports. Now the Maritime Union of Australia has managed to get the hereditary principle signed in blood.

Its new enterprise agreement with stevedore Hutchison Ports in Sydney and Brisbane gives it control of 70 per cent of the lucrative jobs on the wharves through either “family and friends” of existing workers or a union-provided list of approved labour.