Patrick heads to court over week-long union bans

Patrick Stevedores will take legal action today in a bid to limit industrial action by the maritime union as the shipping industry accuses the Gillard government of hiding behind Fair Work Australia, reported The Australian.


Patrick said the proposed week-long union bans at its terminals in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Fremantle from tomorrow would have a flow-on effect on importers and exporters for the next two months.


Patrick will apply this morning to stop the action proceeding at Melbourne's East Swanson Dock, arguing the union has defied a previous order to lift separate ``unlawful'' bans at the terminal and should not be able to take the fresh action.


The Maritime Union of Australia has denied the company's claim the bans would grind 50 per cent of the nation's containerised trade to a halt.


``These are limited work bans,'' the union's deputy national secretary, Mick Doleman, said.


``The container ports are not being shut down by the MUA. The workers will go to work every day. They will put bans and limitations on in terms of overtime and transfers, but those ports will be open for business.''


Patrick director Paul Garaty said last night the company would operate ``at best'' to 30 per cent of normal capacity, and the action would hit exporters, including cotton producers. Garaty said it would take importers and exporters about seven to eight weeks to recover from the union action.


Llew Russell, chief executive of Shipping Australia, urged the union to cancel the action. ``There could not be a worse time to add industrial disruption on the waterfront to the current problems facing our exporters, with a very high Australian dollar, economic problems in Europe and the market disruption as Japan seeks to recover from the disasters there,'' Russell said.


He said his members were asking ``why after 13 years of relative peace on the waterfront are we being subjected to go-slows and strike action on the waterfront again?''.


``Australia's international reputation is at stake and losing jobs in trade-dependent industries may not be of concern to the MUA, but surely it is of concern to the federal government, who must do more than hide behind Fair Work Australia,'' he said.


A spokesman for Workplace Relations Minister Chris Evans said that ``from time to time industrial negotiations result in some sort of action''.


``Obviously, there are consequences that flow from such action,'' he said. ``The government urges the parties to get back to the bargaining table and to negotiate in good faith. The government wants safe, productive ports offering both reliable customer service and fair wages and work conditions for employees.''


Doleman said the union was ``tremendously frustrated'' at the position taken by Patrick.


``We're much closer on the economic points than when negotiations started. We've moderated our claims but productivity is mainly linked to safety and they won't close the gaps. All of the productivity in the bargaining is being delivered by the MUA. ``
(Source:http://www.cargonewsasia.com)