STEVEDORING – AUSTRALIA

Call to end MUA ports chokehold

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 17-Aug-22

Australian Chamber of ­Commerce & Industry CEO Andrew McKellar will use a National Press Club speech on Wednesday to call for productivity improvements at the nation’s ports. He will argue that Australia’s ports are among the least efficient in the world, and that action must be taken to address the Maritime Union of Australia’s "chokehold". McKellar will also argue that industrial relations reform must be high on the agenda for the upcoming jobs and skills summit, as well as an increase in the permanent migrant intake.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (AUSTRALIA), MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA

Morrison takes on the wharfies

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 2 : 1-Dec-21

The Maritime Union of Australia recently agreed to suspend industrial action against stevedoring firm Patrick until at least 10 December. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has signalled that the federal government may be prepared to intervene if the parties do not negotiate in good faith to end their long-running dispute. He has stressed that ports are critical to the nation’s economy, and contends that inefficient ports are a tax on all Australians. Morrison has also advised that the Productivity Commission will hold an inquiry into the nation’s ports; its findings are slated to be released in mid-2022.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, PATRICK TERMINALS, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION

Ports, mine targeted in CFMEU hit

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 15-Jan-19

Hutchison Ports Australia will be subject to industrial action by the militant Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union. Work bans will commence on 17 January, in response to the stevedoring group’s push to reduce pay rates and leave entitlements under a new workplace agreement. Hutchison will apply for an order from the Fair Work Commission requiring the union to give five days’ notice prior to launching the industrial action. Meanwhile, CFMMEU members at the Wongawilli Colliery in New South Wales have voted to extend strike action for a second week.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, HUTCHISON PORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WOLLONGONG COAL LIMITED – ASX WLC, JINDAL STEEL AND POWER LIMITED, CAS MINE SERVICES PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Docks strike not an anniversary walkout

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 8 : 5-Apr-18

The Maritime Union of Australia has defended its decision to launch industrial action at Melbourne’s Webb Dock. The MUA attributes the four-day strike to Qube’s refusal to reinstate a 2014 roster whereby employees worked for seven weeks and had one week off. Qube argues that this roster is uneconomic, and it wants the Fair Work Commission to terminates an existing enterprise agreement. The MUA has rejected suggestions that the strike is timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the 1998 waterfront dispute.

CORPORATES
MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, QUBE PORTS, QUBE HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX QUB, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

Bosses fight CFMEU-MUA super union

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 9-Mar-18

The full bench of the Fair Work Commission will be asked to overturn the decision to approve a merger between the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union and the Maritime Union of Australia. The Australian Mines & Metals Association and Master Builders Australia will also seek a stay of the decision, which could give the Federal Government time to pass legislation to subject union mergers to a public interest test. Workplace Relations Minister Craig Laundy has urged the Opposition to support the bill.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Late push to stop creation of super-union

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 8-Mar-18

The Australian Mines & Metals Association believes that the Federal Government can still legislate to block the merger of the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union and the Maritime Union of Australia. AMMA has suggested amending the Ensuring Integrity Bill so the Government’s public interest test for union mergers applies before a date for amalgamation has been set. In the bill’s present form, the public interest test applies before a merger date has been set, but the Fair Work Commission has already set this for 27 March. The bill has yet to be put before the Senate.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, NICK XENOPHON TEAM, LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, ONE NATION PARTY

Employers lash Coalition on union merger

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 7-Mar-18

The merger between the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union and the Maritime Union of Australia is slated to take effect on 27 March, after it was approved by the Fair Work Commission. The Australian Mines & Metals Association has urged the Federal Government to push for the Senate to block the merger prior to this date, although Workplace Relations Minister Craig Laundy argues that the Ensuring Integrity Bill is not retrospective so it would have no impact on the merger. The merged union will boast 144,000 members and $A310m worth of assets.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, TEXTILE, CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

MUA in court over ports picket

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 9-Dec-16

The Fair Work Ombudsman has launched legal action against the Maritime Union of Australia over unprotected industrial action in August 2015. The union picketed Hutchison Ports’ container terminals in Sydney and Brisbane, and organised work stoppages in response to the company’s move to retrench 97 employees. The FWO wants the MUA to pay compensation to Hutchinson, arguing that the industrial action breached workplace laws and an enterprise agreement.

CORPORATES
MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, HUTCHISON PORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Asciano to delist after FIRB clears $9b takeover

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Original article by Jenny Wiggins
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 : 28-Jul-16

The $A9.05 billion takeover of Asciano by a Qube Holdings-led consortium is expected to be approved by the Supreme Court of New South Wales on 28 July 2016. It has already received approval from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission and the Foreign Investment Review Board. The deal involves Qube and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners taking over Asciano’s Patrick container ports, while five international pension funds will assume the ownership of the Pacific National rail freight business.

CORPORATES
ASCIANO LIMITED – ASX AIO, QUBE HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX QUB, BROOKFIELD INFRASTRUCTURE PARTNERS LP, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIAN CONTAINER FREIGHT SERVICES PTY LTD, DP WORLD AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MONADELPHOUS GROUP LIMITED – ASX MND, MUHIBBAH ENGINEERING BHD, PACIFIC NATIONAL PTY LTD, PATRICK CORPORATION LIMITED

Patrick bid to end dispute on enterprise agreement

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 24-Jun-16

Stevedoring firm Patrick wants the Fair Work Commission to intervene in a dispute over a new enterprise agreement with the Maritime Union of Australia. Patrick will ask the commission to order the union to respond to the company’s proposal, which was made in April 2016. The union criticised the move but it said it has no plans to put pressure on the company through industrial action before the federal election on 2 July.

CORPORATES
PATRICK CORPORATION LIMITED, ASCIANO LIMITED – ASX AIO, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION