The Maritime Union of Australia has condemned an Australian company resuming trade in phosphate plundered from Western Sahara, a country under an illegal occupation by Morocco. Kerry Smith reports.
Paddy Crumlin
Maritime workers, who recently made a daring rescue of 21 seafarers in wild seas off Australia's east coast, are fighting to maintain their pay and conditions against Svitzer Tugs attempts to cut them. Jim McIlroy reports.
Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) members rallied outside the Pakistani Consulate on March 26 to demand the dropping of all charges against the Karachi Dockworkers Union president and another unionist who were arrested following a dispute at Hutchison Ports' Karachi International Container Terminal (KICT).
The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has welcomed as a “victory for common sense” a Federal Court decision on June 21 to reject massive fines sought by the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) over the Hutchison Ports dispute three years ago.
On August 6, 2015, Hutchison Ports Australia sacked 100 workers at its Port Botany terminal by text message the day before many were due to go on shift. The company then placed guards on the gates and workers were not even allowed to clear out their lockers.
A resolution between the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and the Victorian International Container Terminal (VICT) was agreed on December 15, following a 19-day community assembly at Webb Dock and more mass support planned. Union leaders have described it as an important win for workers.
The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) dropped its landmark case against the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and seven crew members of the Tandara Spirit on May 15.
The case related to alleged breaches of the Fair Work Act when the MUA and the seafarers failed to comply with orders from the Fair Work Commission in late 2014.
MUA national secretary Paddy Crumlin said the FWO pulled its investigation after wasting the time and resources of the union and putting the workers through unacceptable stress and anxiety.
Five crew members aboard Alcoa ship the MV Portland were woken at 1am on January 13 by up to 30 security guards, handed their passports and forcibly removed from the vessel. The guards then escorted aboard a replacement crew, believed to be foreign seafarers, who immediately began sailing the ship towards Singapore.