Wharves on edge as strike actions loom over pay dispute

Industrial action is again brewing at major ports around the country with the powerful Maritime Union of Australia imposing stoppages and overtime bans.

Bulk commodities impacted by port industrial action.

Industrial action is again brewing at major ports around the country with the powerful Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) imposing stoppages and overtime bans amid a breakdown in enterprise bargaining negotiations.

The dispute involving port operator Qube is affecting bulk commodities at the company’s wharves at Darwin, Fremantle, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Port Kembla.

The MUA, which is a division of the CFMEU, had had rolling protected industrial action involving Qube since mid-2024, which escalated before Christmas with effective shutdowns at Port Kembla and Fremantle.

Qube has notified customers this week of overtime restrictions and stoppages impacting Adelaide, Darwin and Melbourne Ports, including an eight-hour stoppage from when vessels tie up at berths. Qube has told its customers that Melbourne operations will be impacted by 24 hour stoppages from January 13 until January 26.

Freight & Trade Alliance director Paul Zalai said the agricultural, mining and buildings sector were expected to be hardest hit in the dispute, which comes a year after well-publicised waterfront industrial action between DP World Australia and the MUA.

“Farmers are in need of imported fertiliser and machinery and furthermore, they are totally dependent on reliable access to international markets for grain and other bulk transported commodities,” said Mr Zalai.

“Similarly, the mining sector is also facing unplanned delays in receiving essential equipment while the building sector, already under intense scrutiny with an inability to keep up with housing demand, is being deprived of all forms of steel imports and bulk cement.”

The MUA and Qube have been locked in negotiations for a new enterprise agreement since last year with a key sticking point reportedly including the union’s push to remove roster flexibility, which the company warns would significantly hinder productivity and efficiency.

Qube impacted by port action.

Qube said it has had a 18 per cent wage offer on the table at each port since July that would see stevedores, who are already paid 143 per cent above the award, lock in pay rises of 5 per cent in each of the first two years of new agreements and 4 per cent for each of the two years after that. The offer had already been accepted at one of the company’s 19 ports, despite the urgings of the CFMEU for employees at that port not to do so.

The union is reportedly seeking a 25 per cent wage increase in the first year of the agreement.

It is understood Qube stevedores earn $128,000 a year on average for a 35-hour week including overtime. “The CFMEU unilaterally rejected that offer, typically opting for a month-long campaign of industrial action at ports around the country instead, which has caused massive disruption for supply chains for products like fertiliser, grain, steel, cars and agricultural machinery,” said a Qube spokesman. “CFMEU officials have shown a persistent refusal to negotiate on their long list of claims, despite urgings from their members who are losing pay and are tired of watching their work go to other operators, possibly for good.  

“At the core of their demands is that the CFMEU be given greater control of the Australian waterfront, including deciding when employees come to work.”

MUA deputy national secretary Warren Smith said that while wharfies’ pay has been slashed due to inflation, executive bonuses and shareholder dividends have soared.

Mr Smith said the union had repeatedly called on the company to engage in “meaningful and genuine bargaining” and deal with the safety, fatigue and work-life balance concerns that Qube employees are raising.

“But the company continues to reject every one of the workers core claims,” said Mr Smith.

“Qube has one clear objective here, which is to trigger intractable bargaining provisions within Australian industrial relations law, so they can avoid participating in genuine negotiation in the pursuit of continued huge profits.

“The end goal is to get an arbitrated outcome which they believe will be better for the bottom line than what they can manage with their own negotiators around the bargaining table.”

Mr Smith said the MUA was currently in negotiations with Qube and reserved any further comments until the completion of the process this week.