Wharfies' anger at Patrick deal grows
By James Vassilopoulos
Wharfies are angry following their experience of the enterprise agreement between Patrick Stevedores and the Maritime Union of Australia. The deal came into operation in early October.
In Sydney, there is increasing confrontation between Patrick and some MUA members. In Victoria, other unions have criticised the MUA over its enterprise agreement with Fluor Daniel covering maintenance workers on docks there.
On October 9, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on a public spat between John Coombs, the national secretary of the MUA, and Jim Donovan, the central NSW branch deputy secretary.
Donovan criticised the deal between Patrick and the MUA, and claimed that "a lot of things are happening in the enterprise agreement that were never explained and never should have worked out that way".
He was particularly concerned about the introduction of 12-hour shifts and the reduction of staff in work teams.
Coombs replied that it was "ridiculous" for Donovan to claim that he was not aware of the contents of the deal, and that if he did not understand the deal he should have voted against it.
A meeting of 120 Sydney MUA dissidents took place on October 18 at the Yarra Bay Sailing Club — a very large turnout considering there are about 500 P&O and Patrick wharfies in Sydney.
Sources in the MUA told Green Left Weekly that the wharfies present overwhelmingly worked for P&O.
P&O wharfies are currently negotiating an enterprise agreement with the company. They do not want imposed on them the 12-hour shifts the Patrick wharfies must work.
They are also aware of the new rostering arrangement, which is controlled by management. The system makes it very difficult for workers to plan their lives or to know when they will be working next.
Officials from the MUA central NSW branch are believed to be telling wharfies not to follow management orders to work 12-hour shifts.
Patrick has been issuing warnings to wharfies, as outlined in an employers' handbook. According to the handbook, if workers get three warnings, they can be sacked. Use of this handbook was not part of the enterprise agreement.
Many workers have received two warnings, and some workers have already received three. One MUA source told Green Left Weekly, "These issues are really coming to a head."
It is feared that Patrick may wait till more union activists have three warnings next to their names and then get rid of a cluster of militants. Patrick could argue this sacking would be legal because the workers had breached the enterprise agreement.
12-hour shifts
The MUA-Patrick agreement, which was endorsed by wharfies and registered with the Australian Industrial Relations Commission as an enterprise agreement, clearly allows for 12-hour shifts.
Section 5.2, entitled "key principles", states that the shift length at terminals will be eight hours but that "The company has the right to extend a shift by up to four hours in increments of one, two or four hours on a day or evening shift ... with notification before the end of the shift break".
Under the agreement it would be possible for a wharfie at Port Botany, for example, to work 21 consecutive 12-hour shifts.
Also under the agreement, management has control over shift times and allocation. Wharfies do not know exactly when they will be working, if the hours of their shift will be extended or if the shift starting time will be brought forward or backwards.
For example, one wharfie told Green Left Weekly that he had been rostered to work the evening shift, beginning at 3pm. With 24 hours' notice, he was told that the start time for the shift would be 7pm instead. During the shift, the worker was told that it would be extended by four hours, so that it would end at 7am.
The wharfie's next shift would then begin again at 3pm. Within a 24-hour period, the wharfie worked 16 hours.
With the new agreement, management can make wharfies' working lives very difficult and victimise the most militant.
This situation is similar to that faced by the Liverpool dockers in England. They put up with a situation where their work shifts dominated their lives for a number of years. When they finally had enough and refused to cross the picket line of fellow workers, 500 dockers were sacked.
Fluor Daniel
In another development, unions in Victoria have publicly criticised the MUA's deal with Fluor Daniel, the company that won the maintenance contract for Patrick.
Dean Mighell, the Victorian secretary of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union, said the MUA was "selling out" maintenance workers by negotiating a bad enterprise agreement, according to the October 16 Australian Financial Review.
Mighell said that the maintenance workers would suffer a $16,000 pay cut under the new agreement. The CEPU would appeal the decision of the AIRC to certify the agreement.
Craig Johnson, the Victorian secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union's metal division, also attacked the deal, reportedly stating that the agreement would undercut wages for the contract maintenance industry.
Mick O'Leary, a national organiser with the MUA, said the two union leaders had "sour grapes" because they wanted coverage of workers who went from Patrick to Fluor Daniel.