Patrick Wharfies Turn Down New Enterprise Agreement

Workers at Patrick’s terminals have voted down a new enterprise agreement for four stevedore Patrick’s terminals that the company put to a ballot last week.

Namely, 98 per cent of the 827 workers voted against a 9 per cent pay rise over four years.

“The overwhelming majority voting no to the shoddy agreement also shows that the stall in negotiations has come from their side of the fence and is not the fault of ‘two militant unionists’, as was put to the media in a half-hearted attempt to create division by the CEO – John Mullen,“ Maritime Union of Australia Deputy National Secretary Will Tracey said.

According to MUA, the Asciano subsidiary, which is in the middle of being sold, decided to override the union and put an agreement straight to its workforce, despite the union warning it would be a fruitless exercise.

Tracey added that the union now had a mandate to be properly listened to in the negotiating process.

“Political parties claim mandates with only 51 per cent of the vote, therefore a vote in excess of 98 per cent gives the MUA an all clear to continue what we’ve been doing from the very start; that is, representing the membership,” Tracey said.

“Now it’s time to stop playing games, and get back to the table so that both parties can come to a resolution.”

“Patrick appear to have run an expensive and time consuming ballot to simply confirm what we had been telling them. Let’s stop this nonsense and engage the workforce through their legitimate representative. It’s time to get the discussions back on track now this distraction is over.”

“Our members are willing to lose money to secure conditions; the workers understand this agreement is much more than take-home cash, this is about ensuring they have job security, increased permanency and safety on–the-job,” Tracey went on to say.

At the beginning of April, Patrick dockworkers resorted to industrial action as they were unable to reach a new wage agreement with Australian freight logistics company Asciano after a year of talks.

According to Patrick executive Alex Badenoch, quoted by ABC News, the company believes arbitration was the best way to deal with the impasse going forward, but if the MUA would not agree, a lockout was a viable option, should workers pursue further industrial action.