AIMPE’s Strikes at Australian Ports to Continue

Australian Fair Work Commission has rejected Danish tug operator Svitzer’s application seeking to terminate the industrial campaign being waged by the Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers (AIMPE).

This means that AIMPE’s announced stoppages are set to continue at the nation’s ports, according to GAC.

Besides the already announced 24-hour stoppages, the union plans to simultaneously stop work for 24 hours at Newcastle, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Geelong on January 19, while operations are expected to be halted for 48 hours in Sydney/Botany, Fremantle and Kwinana on January 18.

As World Maritime News reported, the strikes, which affect all coal carriers, fuel carriers, car importers and bulk container vessels entering port, are due to the tug crews’ disagreement with Svitzer’s proposed industrial contract which would force three-person crews, consisting of a skipper, a deckhand and an engineer, under a single industrial agreement.

Commenting on the industrial action Svitzer said that “the industrial action is not about an engineer’s wages, conditions and qualifications. Under the proposed new single agreement all wages and conditions the engineers receive today will remain unchanged for the next four years. The industrial action is about the engineers not wanting to be on the same enterprise agreement as their crew mates.”

World Maritime News Staff