‘Economic vandalism’: Commonwealth intervenes in Svitzer’s dispute with port workers
A plan has been hatched to stop the feud between tugboat giant Svitzer and port workers and prevent Christmas chaos.
The federal government has waded into tugboat giant Svitzer’s industrial feud with port workers in an effort to prevent widespread disruption to the supply of supermarket produce and consumer goods.
The Fair Work Commission is intervening in the protracted dispute between Svitzer and three maritime unions to try to stop the tugboat operator from locking out nearly 600 workers at 17 Australian ports from Friday.
Employment Minister Tony Burke said on Wednesday he had given instructions for the government to be represented at the FWC hearings, where it will demand that Svitzer call off the lockout.
“We will be arguing that the lockout must stop – the damage to the Australian economy being proposed by Svitzer is completely unacceptable,” Mr Burke told the National Press Club in Canberra.
“What Svitzer are doing is basically playing a game of blackmail with the Australian economy.”
Svitzer, a subsidiary of Danish shipping giant Maersk, announced its plans for the lockout on Monday as its three-year dispute with the unions boiled over following nearly 2000 hours of worker strikes in the past month alone.
Svitzer managing director Nicolaj Noes said the company had been left with no other choice than to stop its employees from working.
The tugboat operator has applied to the FWC to terminate its expired enterprise agreement with port workers after its lengthy fight with the unions over employment conditions failed to result in a new agreement.
The Maritime Union of Australia says Svitzer has refused to finalise a new agreement, effectively giving workers a wage freeze.
The parties were called to appear before the industrial umpire for a hearing on Wednesday afternoon.
Mr Burke said he didn’t want to interfere with the independence of the FWC’s decision, but the federal government wanted to make clear how “irresponsible and dangerous” the Svitzer lockout would be.
“What Svitzer are attempting to do is economic vandalism … if they waited three weeks, I intend to give them a new law,” he said.
He said Labor’s Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill would help prevent this kind of disruption in the future because they would allow the FWC to more easily intervene in “intractable” disputes.
Mr Burke said under the current laws, the industrial umpire could only make such an intervention if the national economy was at risk or someone’s life was at risk.
“An intractable dispute should be able to be dealt with because it’s an intractable dispute,” he said.
Labor’s wide-ranging workplace reforms are set to be voted on in the Senate before Christmas.
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