Maritime Union of Australia and DP World near ports peace deal

The two-year negotiation between DP World and the Maritime Union of Australia over a new wage agreement appears close to a settlement.

The MUA has withdrawn its industrial action at Sydney’s Port Botany.

The two-year negotiation between DP World and the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) over a new wage agreement appears close to a settlement after the union withdrew its industrial action at Sydney’s Port Botany.

In a statement, MUA national secretary Paddy Crumlin said the breakthrough demonstrated that the proper application of bargaining was capable of resolving long-running, complex disputes.

DP World chief operating officer Andrew Adam said: “The Maritime Union’s decision to withdraw all industrial action at DP World Sydney has enabled productive negotiations at our Sydney terminal to resume. We anticipate being able to finalise an agreement at DP World Sydney in the coming week.”

“We’re encouraged with the progress we made this week in Sydney.”

The MUA is bargaining for a wages agreement that includes a 6 per cent annual increase over the next four years.

While progress is being made with one port operator, industrial action continues with others — Patrick’s Port Botany terminal was expected to be shut on Friday night and on Saturday night.

The union’s go-slow action has created havoc on the waterfront with long delays resulting in ships being diverted from Sydney and the east coast.

With strong demand within Asia due to the revival of the Chinese economy, importers and exports are reporting difficulty in getting slots on container ships and then getting the containers landed.

“As a result from the ongoing protected industrial action from the MUA, Patrick has a growing backlog of containers,” a spokesman for Patrick said. “By Friday, across all four container terminals, there are approximately 40 vessels and 85,000 containers that are waiting to be handled by Patrick Terminals.

“The current waiting time for a berth for an on-time vessel is 9.6 days in Melbourne, 18.5 days in Sydney, 8.6 days in Brisbane and three days in Fremantle.”

Mr Crumlin said that “by meeting together this week to bargain in good faith, DP World Australia and the MUA have been able to achieve a significant breakthrough, reaching an in-principle agreement that both sides hope to finalise by the end of this month”. “After two years of difficult negotiation, this is a significant breakthrough that will provide industrial certainty at Australia’s largest container terminals,” he said.

Industrial action continues at other DP World sites around the country.