Cruise Whitsundays workers stop work for a week amid pay talks failure

A Whitsundays tourism operator, which is facing continued strike action from employees amid pay talks that have continued to fail, has had to cancel tours and boat transfers while a union says it’s preparing to stop work ‘until Christmas’.

The Whitsundays’ largest tourism operator is facing continued strike action from parts of its workforce as negotiations on wage increases continue to fail.

Cruise Whitsundays customers dealt with tours being cancelled throughout the past week while union members and employees say they are preparing to stop work “until Christmas”.

On Wednesday, a week-long strike action was started by Cruise Whitsundays’ workers, following a march on Friday, September 15.

It came as the latest in a series of negotiations over wages between the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) Queensland Branch and Cruise Whitsundays failed to reach an agreement.

The union has been asking the company to increase employees’ wages by 30 per cent amid negotiations of a new enterprise agreement that expired in March 2022.

A Cruise Whitsundays spokeswoman said the request was “unreasonable”.

Industry action is being conducted by Cruise Whitsundays employees from September 20 to September 27 which will leave the tourism operator with no option but to cancel some of its tours and boat transfer services to the Whitsunday Islands.

Cruise Whitsundays employees, who took industry action on September 15 after wage talks failed, have been carrying out a week-long strike. Picture: Estelle Sanchez

MUA Queensland Branch secretary Jason Miners said the union had set up a strike fund on Friday, September 22, hoping to get as much support as possible from other workers, members of the public, other unions and other branches.

“We’re setting up for the long haul,” he said.

“Depending on that support, we’ll be able to sustain this up until Christmas,”

Mr Miners said the trust fund would not provide funds to employees for “every day” but instead for “regular and systematic action and stoppages”.

“We’re getting close now,” he said, referring to the amount of funds needed to sustain employees for that period of time.

Cruise Whitsundays has cancelled a numbers of tours and boat transfers to the Whitsunday Islands amid workers industrial action. Picture: Cruise Whitsundays

Why the need for increased wages?

MUA Queensland Branch secretary Jason Miners said workers are asking the company for a 30 per cent increase in average salaries among all employees as this would match what other tourism boat operators in the region offer their workforces.

Mr Miners said some Cruise Whitsundays employees were paid below the casual decks crew minimum wage of $26 an hour while the rest get the minimum $31 an hour.

“They claim to pay “above award rates” but, in many cases identified by the union, this is just 1 cent per hour above the legal minimum,” he said.

A Cruise Whitsundays spokeswoman said workers have provided “no data or wage comparisons to other local businesses with marine tourism as their core business”.

The spokeswoman said Cruise Whitsundays implemented pay increases totalling 6 per cent since the discussions had started last year and has proposed a new wage offer with rates “between 4.8 per cent to 44.4 per cent above award, depending on their position, skill level and tenure”.

Union members on strike against Cruise Whitsundays marched near the Port of Airlie Ferry Terminal on September 15. Picture: Estelle Sanchez

On September 18, Cruise Whitsundays HR representatives met with MUA officials and delegates to discuss a new pay offer.

A MUA Queensland Branch statement said the representatives “left the meeting in bewilderment” as the pay increase from the company amounted to “between $1 and $1.50 per hour for a small percentage of staff”.

A Cruise Whitsundays spokeswoman said the company had put forward “multiple proposals for review”.

“We have agreed to and resolved almost all matters presented, however we have not received any reasonable or sustainable wage proposals for review,” she said.

“Despite invitations for feedback from the MUA, we have not received any.”

Disappointed customers in the middle of school holidays

The continued strike action has left some customers disappointed to have their tours cancelled and some community members shared concerns about whether their loved ones would be able to get back from the islands.

A comment on Facebook group Whitsundays Noticeboard from Sharlene San said she was “bummed” about the cancellation. She added she “won’t be rebooking Airlie” for her next holiday.

Other customers shared their uncertainty about tours being cancelled in following weeks with one comment from Emma Parkinson, who said she was coming to the Whitsundays in four weeks from the UK and would “be gutted if it’s cancelled”.

Cruise Whitsundays has been alerting customers of tour cancellations amid industrial action by their employees. Picture: Contributed

A Cruise Whitsundays spokeswoman said the company “recognises” the business would be disrupted “in the coming days”.

“We endeavour to keep critical services in operation as a priority and sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may cause,” she said.

“We remain hopeful that we can reach a positive resolution with our employees soon,”