Category: MUA

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New Zealand wharfies join international day of action against Qube Ports

Source: Maritime Union of New Zealand

New Zealand maritime workers will be rallying in support of Australian workers at Qube Ports on Monday 16 December 2024.

Australian wharfies at Qube are stopping work at ten ports in an International Day of Action to expose Qube Ports’ refusal to take safety, fatigue and work-life balance concerns seriously during bargaining for a new employment agreement covering more than 1000 workers.

Maritime Union of New Zealand National Secretary Carl Findlay says New Zealand wharfies will be supporting the Maritime Union of Australia in their struggle, with delegates heading across the Tasman in both directions, an international video link, and protest events to be held in two New Zealand ports.

TAURANGA informational picket Monday 16 December (1pm–3pm)
Hull Road, Mt. Maunganui (Port gates)

GISBORNE informational picket Monday 16 December (Morning)
Corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Hirini Street

Maritime Union of Australia delegates and MUNZ officials will be attending these pickets and available to talk to media.

Mr Findlay says Qube management need to be aware their actions in Australia will have consequences for their brand and credibility internationally unless they change their attitude towards their workforce.

He says the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) will be “acting as one.”

Qube Ports in Australia is an ASX listed behemoth which has extracted mega-profits in recent years from the productivity delivered by their hard working employees, and has doggedly refused to sit down and negotiate a new agreement with their workforce. 

The MUA says Qube has repeatedly dismissed safety and fatigue concerns and declared it unprofitable to operate a business which takes safety seriously. 

While wharfies’ pay has gone backwards against inflation, executive bonuses and shareholder dividends have soared. Over the last four years, Qube profits have jumped by 148%.

The MUA has repeatedly called on the company to return to the bargaining table and engage meaningfully with the safety, fatigue and work-life balance concerns that Qube employees are raising.

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Maritime Union of New Zealand back struggle of Australian Unions against anti-Union, anti-worker laws

Source: Maritime Union of New Zealand

The Maritime Union of New Zealand has offered its full support to Australian Unions in their struggle against anti-Union laws.

The CFMEU Construction Division was recently placed in administration following unproven allegations of criminal activity and new legislation rushed through the Australian Parliament.

The Maritime Union of Australia is a division of the CFMEU, and is backing a High Court challenge against the Federal Government’s “unjustified, chaotic and reckless decision” to place the CFMEU’s Construction Division into administration.

Mr Findlay says MUNZ agrees with the Maritime Union of Australia that the Federal Government in Australia has effectively robbed construction workers of an effective union.

“Maritime workers on both sides of the Tasman support key democratic principles including the presumption of innocence, natural justice and due process under law.”

“The Maritime Union of New Zealand is federated with the Maritime Union of Australia, and the MUA and the wider CFMEU have our full support in their struggle.”

Mr Findlay says all workers should be aware of the dangers of extreme anti-Union agendas that undermine the hard won rights of workers to organize. 

“This is a disturbing precedent and must be challenged.”

The Maritime Union in Australia and New Zealand have their origins in the Federated Seaman’s Union of Australasia founded in the 1870s.

“Governments come and Governments go, but the Union and the organized working class are here to stay.”

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New cross-Tasman maritime worker federation to bolster MUA and MUNZ power in Kiwi and Australian ports

Source: Maritime Union of New Zealand

At the Maritime Union of Australia’s National Conference in Adelaide the MUA and the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) announced a new federation bringing together the two unions in a formal arrangement to build workers’ power at ports throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Speaking at the announcement, National Secretary of the MUA Paddy Crumlin explained that a formal arrangement was the next logical step for the two unions after many decades of closely working together on workplace, safety, geopolitical and industrial challenges facing maritime workers in both countries.

“The fraternal bonds that link our two unions are some of the closest, oldest and most durable in the trade union movement, and given we are working in an increasingly globalised workplace and standing up against some of the same bosses, it makes perfect sense to expand and bolster the strength of our Unions through a formalised federation,” Crumlin said.

MUA National Secretary, Paddy Crumlin, moves the resolution to enter a new federation with MUNZ at the MUA’s National Conference in Adelaide, 2024

The Maritime Union of Australia, formed in 1993, is an amalgamation of the old Waterside Workers Federation and the Seamen’s Union of Australia. The MUA, through its predecessor Unions has been an immovable force on the Australian waterfront and around our coastline for 151 years. Likewise, in 2002, MUNZ was formed through the amalgamation of two unions, covering wharfies and seafarers, that trace their histories in New Zealand to the 19th century.

“The history of maritime industries was one of casual labour, injury and death on the job, and ruthless employers who wouldn’t cede an inch to their workers,” said Craig Harrison, the MUNZ National Secretary.

“Our members had to fight for and defend their right to secure, permanent jobs, a decent wage and safe conditions of work. We have stood together to improve the lot of working people and their communities since those early days and we now look towards an even stronger presence on the waterfront and on our ships across the Asia Pacific through this federation with the MUA,” Harrison said.

Craig Harrison, National Secretary of MUNZ, addressing the MUA National Conference in Adelaide, 2024

The expansion of global network terminal operators and the voracious appetite of big employers like Qube for swallowing up smaller stevedoring operators across New Zealand has made the federation an obvious strategic step for the two unions to take together. The Australian Federal Government’s strategic shipping fleet commitment will also deliver significant trans-Tasman capacity and new training and employment opportunities in both Australian and New Zealand for maritime workers.

“We saw during COVID, where shipping and terminal operators manipulated vital supply chains to extract maximum profit from vulnerable countries like Australia and New Zealand that are entirely dependent on global shipping,” said Mr Crumlin. “Now the same cartel forces are organising against Australian and Kiwi communities to use the sheer brute force of capital to take control of our docks. They will jack up landside prices, control schedules and freight lanes, and drive down the working conditions and wages of our members, so the strategic importance of the relationship between the two Unions cannot be overstated,” Crumlin added.

The two Unions, together, represent tens of thousands of maritime workers. The MUA, a division of the CFMEU, has branches in every state and the Northern Territory while MUNZ has ten branches across both the North and South Islands. The two unions already attend each other’s National Council meetings and work in the strongest unified way across their shared international trade union affiliations and by sharing trade union training and standing side by side in struggle and campaigning.

Together, the MUA and MUNZ, have collaborated on a number of industrial and political campaigns and established strong fraternal bonds of solidarity between the two Unions. The ‘War on the Wharves’ charity boxing tournament, held each year to raise money for charity, is a long-standing expression of this close and important relationship.

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Successful resolution for Australian port workers at DP World 

Source: Maritime Union of New Zealand

The Maritime Union of New Zealand has offered its congratulations to the Maritime Union of Australia for the successful resolution of the industrial dispute at DP World terminals.

The Maritime Union of Australia and Dubai Ports reached an in-principle agreement last week, subject to endorsement by the MUA membership employed at Dubai Ports in Australia.

The agreement, which replaces an earlier agreement that expired in September 2023, is for a four-year term and delivers fair pay, safety and fatigue management measures, and provides job security and a fair work-life balance for Australian wharfies.

Maritime Union of New Zealand National Secretary Craig Harrison says Australian port workers at DP World had the full support of New Zealand maritime workers and had persevered to achieve a good outcome.

Mr Harrison says it is concerning that a proposed port privatization at Port of Auckland features DP World as a potential terminal operator. 

He says DP World has come under increasing scrutiny in Australia and elsewhere for its business practices.

According to recent polling carried out on behalf of the Union, the great majority of Aucklanders support keeping the Port of Auckland in public ownership.

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New Zealand maritime workers support Australian workers at DP World

Source: Maritime Union of New Zealand

The Maritime Union of New Zealand says it is backing the Maritime Union of Australia in their dispute with DP World 100%.

Maritime Union of New Zealand National Secretary Craig Harrison says Australian port workers at DP World have the full support of New Zealand maritime workers.

Industrial action has occurred at DP World terminals in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Fremantle as port workers press for wage increases to counter cost of living hikes. 

Mr Harrison says it is hypocrisy for employers to be attacking workers seeking reasonable wage increases, while companies like DP World ratchet up giant profits for their owners – in this case the Royal Family of Dubai.

He says there are strong ties between maritime unions in Australia and New Zealand.

Mr Harrison says DP World has come under increasing scrutiny in Australia and elsewhere for its business practices.

Although one of Australia’s two largest port operators, a recent report found DP World has paid no tax in Australia despite generating revenue of more than AU$4.5 billion over eight years.

Mr Harrison says it is very concerning that the proposed port privatization at Port of Auckland features DP World as a potential operator. 

He says the behaviour of DP World in Australia by pushing up massive container surcharges, tax practices, and poor workplace relations, were all red flags. 

“Is this the kind of corporate operator we want to give monopoly control of Port of Auckland to?”