Patrick stevedores braces for more MUA strike action

Patrick stevedores is bracing for MUA-led strikes in Sydney after negotiations for a new workplace agreement failed.

Patrick stevedores is bracing for fresh strikes at its Port Botany terminal on Wednesday after troubled negotiations over the workforce’s enterprise agreement collapsed again this week.

The company today slammed the “aggressive and disproportionate” industrial action by the maritime union and blamed the nation’s “adversarial industrial system” and militant unionists for derailing the bargaining process.

But the MUA hit back accusing the Patrick of “inflammatory” comments during a proposed media black-out and accused the company of stalling on signing a deal for wharfies ahead of the sale of parent group Asciano.

Senior Patrick executive Alex Badenoch said most of the negotiations over the EBA had been “constructive”.

But“a small but highly influential group within the MUA has commandeered these negotiations as a means to boost its dwindling membership”, she said.

Patrick said unionists were spearheading a push for a 32-hour week paid at the existing 35-hour rate.

But the union said the drop in hours was offset by a rise in higher-rate midnight and weekend shifts.

The dispute escalated as the MUA said it had “no choice” but to take industrial action at Port Botany after six days of work stoppages at Fremantle.

Ms Badenoch said “we had hoped to provide much needed certainty for our people by creating a new deal in light of the pending change of ownership (but) ...the transaction occurs regardless whether the EA is completed or not.”

The strikes caused “an unacceptable backlog to the national supply chain… effectively shutting down these critical gateways for Australia’s imports and exports for the duration of the strikes”, Patrick said.

“This has and will continue to cause significant disruption and damage to our customer’s operations at a time when the shipping industry is already facing significant challenges.

“Our key focus is on mitigating the impact on our customers and the broader community, which depends on timely access to the countless goods that move through our container terminals.”

MUA official Paul McAleer said the roster changes proposed to Patrick were “cost neutral” .

“We’ve been incredibly patient. we’ve put in a wage claim that amounts to 3 per cent a year, we’re not seeking extreme wage increases. We do want wage and job security”.

“We’re not far away”, he said referring to striking a deal with Patrick.

But he branded the company’s comments “inflammatory...they weren’t about trying to bring about an enterprise agreement.”