Nick Bonyhady
• DP World move could spark strikes and lockouts
Stevedore DP World will dock a full shift’s pay from any wharfies who slow down cargo with work bans, in an escalation of its dispute with the Maritime Union of Australia that is hindering four of the country’s busiest ports.
The move is seen by industry groups as a prelude to full-on strikes and lockouts, which could bring to a head the months-long dispute plaguing about 40 per cent of Australian imports and exports.
Since October 1, the militant Maritime Union has instructed its members to engage in legal industrial action from refusing overtime to not unloading trucks, as it negotiates a new pay deal with the foreign-owned stevedore.
During the union’s campaign of industrial action staff have been paid even if they did not fulfil their full duties. But that will change on Friday. The company’s spokesman said it was a ‘‘last resort’’.
‘‘Employees who choose to engage in partial work bans at DP World’s Australian terminals will not receive payment until they return to normal duties,’’ he said.
Federal Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has refused to intervene. A spokesman for the minister, who is on leave, said yesterday the government urged both sides to work with the national industrial umpire to find a solution.
DP World operates terminals at Brisbane, Port Botany in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle.
The company estimates the union’s industrial action has so far cost Australian businesses $10 million from perished goods, late penalties and storage fees. But it claims the overall cost of the industrial action for the economy is much higher, at $84.2 million a week. Shipping delays have been exacerbated by increasing tensions in the Red Sea.
Paul Zalai, chief executive of the industry group Freight and Trade Alliance, said it appeared DP World had decided the union’s campaign of industrial action was intolerable.
‘‘Reading between the lines, it could get to the point where DP World invokes the industrial action available to them, which would be to lock out the staff,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m hopeful it doesn’t come to that.’’
There has not been a major lockout in Australia’s shipping industry since the 1990s waterfront dispute, in which the Howard government collaborated with Patrick Corporation in an attempt to break the MUA and reform Australia’s ports.
Any such move could cripple the nation’s imports and exports, and would be likely to trigger intervention from the Fair Work Commission, which is the national industrial umpire. It could decide new pay rules for DP World itself or order an end to the industrial action.
DP World’s pay agreement with its staff expired in September, but Maritime Union of Australia assistant national secretary Adrian Evans said it had been seeking a new deal in good faith since March last year.
‘‘For nine months [we] have faced nothing but obstruction and delay from the company,’’ Mr Evans said in a statement. He accused the company of ‘‘lying’’ to the public about the impact of industrial action and said it was trying to erode pay and safety measures.
‘‘This company already pays its workers 17 per cent less than Patrick’s stevedores next door and they have just jacked up prices for their customers by 52 per cent at the beginning of this month,’’ he said.
The union has previously claimed DP World wants changes that would reduce pay by up to 32 per cent. DP World has claimed the union wants pay rises of up to 27 per cent.
DP World’s regional vice president, Nicolaj Noes, previously threatened to lock out tugboat workers when he was the managing director of Svitzer Australia in 2022. But the Fair Work Commission stepped in and suspended all industrial action for six months.
In a letter to industry leaders and politicians seen by the Financial Review, DP World said its action was essential to stop the effects of delayed cargo on industries from meat to retail.
‘‘The livelihoods of countless individuals are at stake, and we must take action to curb economic losses and stabilise port operations,’’ its letter reads.
Mr Zalai said his members had suffered substantial delays, with goods dropped off at the wrong ports to be transferred overland at additional cost or not picked up for export.
Agricultural groups are watching the dispute closely. Australia’s fresh grape growers’ association is afraid that stevedoring delays could harm its exports.
‘‘We’re certainly concerned about it because, first of all, table grapes are the biggest fresh fruit export out of Australia,’’ association chief executive Jeff Scott said previously.
As well as the dispute over pay, DP World is trying to introduce its first roster change in decades on February 5, which it says will increase pay for most of its workforce. The union has said the company’s plan is improper and that rosters change regularly.
Acting NSW opposition leader Natalie Ward said the Premier, Chris Minns, should demand the federal government intervene, citing his remarks opposing pro-Palestinian demonstrations against Israeli-linked shipping.
‘‘Now he should match his words with actions by picking up the phone to Anthony Albanese to end the strike and force the parties to negotiate,’’ Ms Ward said.
A spokesman for Mr Minns declined to comment.