Unprecedented union quotas that require 70 per cent of new hires to be sourced from the union and employees’ “family and friends” have been criticised as a return to tribalism and the 1970s but may well be legal.

Workplace experts have said the Maritime Union of Australia quotas in Hutchison Ports’ new enterprise agreement are “repugnant” and should be outlawed, saying it gives the union and the workforce huge influence over lucrative jobs paying up to $180,000 a year.