MUA, Hutchison Ports strike deal over 224 workers

The fate of nearly 100 Hutchison Ports wharfies sacked by text message and email this month remains in limbo.

Sacked workers from Hutchison Ports and their supporters rallied outside at Pitt Street Mall in Sydney on Wednesday.

The maritime union and stevedoring company Hutchison Ports have agreed to work out a new deal for 224 workers at the firm, while the fate of nearly 100 wharfies sacked by text message and email this month remains in limbo.

Hutchison and the Maritime Union of Australia postponed next week’s federal court hearing into the sackings, a statement from Fair Work Commission deputy President Anna Booth said this morning, and will instead “put their efforts into resolving this dispute through further conciliation before me”.

It’s understood the parties have signed a deal to implement redundancies — although the timing, number, and selection criteria is up for debate in the coming weeks.

Workers will technically keep their jobs until mid-October, the deadline for a new enterprise agreement or changes to the existing terms.

The redundancies will only be chosen from among those already let go.

And there is no guarantee any of up to 97 workers sacked on August 6 — sparking a public outcry — will be rostered on during the negotiations.

The MUA won a temporary federal court injunction against the sackings earlier this month, on the grounds the company had failed to properly consult with workers before the redundancies.

Federal court judge Darryl Rangiah ordered the workers be reinstated, but no shifts have been given to any of the sacked workers.

The court was scheduled to hear the matter again in Brisbane on Tuesday.

The union and the company will meet for a private conference with deputy President Booth for three days next week.

“I believe the parties are committed to reaching an agreement that best meets the

interests of Hutchinsons Ports, its employees, the Maritime Union of Australia and its members”, deputy President Booth said.

The company has disclosed losses last year of $87 million and said it desperately needed to scale down its workforce to continue Australian operations.

The Australian revealed today that the Fair Work Ombudsman is investigating the Maritime Union of Australia over picketing and blockades at Hutchison ports terminals in Sydney and Brisbane this month which arose after the workers were sacked.

The union has said it will comply fully with the investigation.

MUA national secretary Paddy Crumlin hailed the breakthrough as “ a mature and normal process of consultation and negotiation with Hutchison – that’s what we have been after all along.”

In a shift in the union’s previous position, Mr Crumlin also acknowledged Hutchison’s perilous financial state.

“We look forward to the fact that if this new attitude is maintained by the company – because it certainly will be by the MUA – then a solution can be found that both deals with the difficult commercial reality the company is facing and repairs the damage that has been done to the company’s relationship with its workers over the past few weeks.”