DP World calls for Albanese intervention in industrial dispute

Importers and exporters have been hit by industrial action taken against DP World and its CEO wants PM Anthony Albanese to order arbitration.

DP World’s report says the industrial action has cost $1.34bn since it began in October last year. Picture: Bloomberg

DP World Australia believes its ongoing dispute with its stevedores over wages and rostering has so far cost the nation more than $84m per week due to delays loading and unloading containers from ships.

And it wants the federal government to step in and arbitrate a solution.

Australia’s second biggest ports operator said the ongoing industrial action had stalled about 44,000 containers, and a backlog was likely to take between two and eight weeks to clear.

It has commissioned a report, to be released Monday, which shows the industrial action has cost $1.34bn since it began in October last year.

DP World Oceania executive vice-president Nicolaj Noes told The Australian he would like Prime Minister Anthony Albanese or Industrial Relations Tony Burke to ask the Fair Work Commission to step in and force mandatory arbitration.

“That would be our recommendation, that Minister Burke or Mr Albanese pick up the phone to the Fair Work Commission and say ‘guys you have got to bring these people to the table and stop the industrial action’ and come up with an outcome now that is fair for both parties,” Mr Noes said.

The port delays affect importers such as Coles, Woolworths, JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman and others, while any companies which export would also be experiencing disruption.

DP World said meat exports alone were worth $18.7bn annually and relied on just-in-time supply chains which have been significantly affected impacted by the work bans and stoppages imposed by the Maritime Union of Australia.

In response to the industrial action, shipping lines are prioritising loaded containers over empty ones. Picture: AFP

In response to the continued industrial action, shipping lines are prioritising loaded containers, leaving thousands of empties stranded. Rising queues are costing transporters millions of dollars to store and shift empty boxes.

The MUA has been taking industrial action at DP World’s ports for four months and the FWC does not generally intervene until action has been taking place for more than nine months.

Mr Noes said he was “comfortable” the FWC would find in DP World’s favour through forced arbitration.

“We are comfortable with what we are asking for. We would get an outcome that would be acceptable for us. And at this stage, it doesn’t seem like there will be an outcome that is acceptable for them – so they do not agree to that arbitration.”

However MUA national assistant secretary Adrian Evans rejected claims the industrial action was costing that much.

“That’s just simply not right,” Mr Evans said. “The action we’re taking is measured. It causes some delays but as we saw through Covid there were shipping delays everywhere, but the economy boomed and inflation spiralled so it’s not costing anything like that.

“The whole idea of protected action is to cause the company to reach an agreement with us.”

DP World has a 40 per cent market share of the nation’s ports, just below Patrick Corp on 41 per cent.

Mr Evans said that DP World was currently paying staff on average 17 per cent less than Patrick.

“We are seeking a two-year deal at 16 per cent which will still fall behind Patrick which is already over 17 per cent ahead of DP World,” Mr Evans said, adding that three days of negotiations start on Monday.

As part of the negotiations DP World said the MUA wants a 27 per cent pay rise for certain types of stevedore contracts.

“This is about security, permanency and roster, respect and dignity in the workplace, safety, competitive wages and removal of ambiguity in the agreements,” Mr Evans said.

He said the government should stay out of the process at this stage.

“It’s a matter between an employer and its workforce,” Mr Evans said. “They will game the system, rather than negotiate.

“We’ve been negotiating since March last year and their whole strategy has been to obstruct, to inflame the situation, to try to gain the system to get the outcome they want by seeking, you know, an intervention to remove their members’ right to take protective action.”

Addressing the issue of DP World paying less than Patrick, Mr Noes said that the larger rival had better productivity due to being fully automated in Brisbane and Sydney, whereas DP World was only semi-automated at one port – Brisbane.

“A job gets paid as a reflection of the value that’s created and the specific set of circumstances of that company,” Mr Noes said.

“If we just say every company should be paid the same inside the same industry, well I think other companies have tried that in the Soviet Union and North Korea. It doesn’t work out that well.

“Patrick operates a totally different operation. They have a higher productivity so it’s not exactly an apples to apples comparison.

“But that’s not what the unions are talking about. They’re talking about cherry picking one number.”

The MUA and DP World on Monday are due to again meet to discuss the wages and rostering issues. Mr Evans believed it was within DP World’s ability to reach an agreement then.

But Mr Noes said that would be a commercially unviable option.

“We could just agree to their claims. If we just gave in to all 300 claims and that 27 per cent salary increase. But that is not my job,” he said.

“My job is to create a company that’s built to last … it is within our hands to agree to something but it would be a very short-lived endeavour to just do that.”

A spokesman for Mr Burke said both parties should “engage with the Fair Work Commission and find a solution in the best interests of everybody involved”.