MUA members vote for deal
By James Vassilopoulos
SYDNEY — On June 24, 450 Patrick members of the Maritime Union of Australia voted in favour of the draft settlement between their union and Patrick Stevedores. Before the vote, those present expressed many concerns; the meeting lasted five hours.
Wharfies in Melbourne voted to accept the deal the day before.
The deal preserves the MUA's coverage of the stevedoring industry but at a huge price in terms of jobs and working conditions. The major concessions include a loss of 428 full-time jobs, an annualised salary that will include wage cuts unless productivity benchmarks are met, the outsourcing of 200 jobs and increased management power to arrange rosters and change times of shifts.
The settlement also includes the MUA dropping its conspiracy case against Patrick and the government.
One MUA member told Green Left Weekly that the deal was "obnoxious" and put "working conditions back by 25 years". The settlement "increased the employers' control over the job and therefore over our lives". Another wharfie rolled up the agreement into a cone and motioned towards his backside: the deal was "full of shit".
However, all MUA members voted for the deal. A key to this unanimous support was the favourable recommendation from Jim Donovan, deputy secretary of the NSW central branch of the MUA.
The night before the Sydney mass meeting, a six-hour committee of management meeting in the end convinced local MUA leaders to support the settlement.
MUA national secretary John Coombs argued that rejecting the deal would put workers in jeopardy. He said the only other alternative was to pursue the conspiracy case in the courts, which could take as long as 12 months and might not succeed.