Supporters of the Alexander Spirit crew have hit the streets again today with a crowd of a couple of hundred strong protesting outside the Caltex-run Kurnell refinery, condemning the company’s treatment of the fuel tanker’s crew and the wider working public, the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) said.
In addition to Maritime Union of Australia members, the group was made up of supporters from the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, the Transport Workers’ Union, the Australian Maritime Officers Union, the Fire Brigade Employee’s Union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, MUA added.
Sydney Branch Secretary Paul McAleer used this opportunity to condemn the actions of multi-million dollar oil company Caltex.
“We’re down here at the Caltex terminal, which was a terminal which used to have hundreds and hundreds of members,” he told the crowd.
McAleer said Caltex’s decision to shut down the refinery was insulting.
“Despite the profit, this is a company that has shed hundreds of jobs out of this community and now they’re going to sack another 36 off the Alexander Spirit,” he said referring to Caltex’s announcement of a half-year profit of $375 million a week after telling the crew of the Alexander Spirit they were going to be replaced.
After further speeches by ITF National Coordinator Dean Summers and Unions NSW Secretary Mark Lennon, the crowd assembled on the road and marched to the terminal gates.
The fate of the ship and its crew has been in limbo for more than fortnight after oil major Caltex announced it would replace the Australian workers with a cheap foreign crew on the same week it reported a USD 375 million half-year profit.
The tanker was due to depart from Devonport to Singapore on Saturday, after several delays caused by crew shortages. However, the stand-off continues as the ship remains in Devonport, Tasmania.