SHIPPING Australia (SAL) has called for the Government to intervene in the ongoing series of industrial actions against Qube Ports, arguing it will begin to cripple the Australian economy.
The association has written directly to the Federal Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Murray Watt, urging Mr Watt to engage his Fair Work Act powers which it says would terminate the strikes and send the dispute to the Fair Work Commission (FWC).
Shipping Australia further called upon the State and Territory Ministers to act “on behalf of everyday Australian families across Australia to bring these damaging strikes to an end”.
The public call for action by the association comes as strikes are either underway or due at Brisbane, Port Kembla, Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin and Fremantle, with a 14-day strike due at Melbourne.
This follows on from previous months of industrial actions engaged by the MUA against Qube Ports after negotiations over a new employment agreement stalled following the previous agreement’s expiry in June last year.
Shipping Australia maintained that, while the industrial action may be slow-moving and is not as visible to the everyday Australian, the disruptions “will surely begin to cripple” the Australian economy, and says Australian families, businesses, and industries will inevitably start to suffer.
The association cited recent reports of car carriers facing delayed discharges due to congestion resulting from the Qube strikes, stating that cars are being offloaded at the wrong ports and trucked “at massive cost” across Australia.
“Qube is a vital component in our supply chain. The cargoes and ships it handles are highly specialised,” Shipping Australia said in an official statement.
“Qube ports, and their cargo- and ship-handling services, are vital to the wellbeing of Australia.”
The public call from Shipping Australia comes at the same time as the Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) released its own statement arguing industrial action is crippling vital import, export, and domestic supply chains.
The alliance highlighted that 12 months after the waterfront industrial action between DP World Australia and the MUA, international trade is again being disrupted because of another dispute, this time between the MUA and Qube Ports.
The FTA says that, unlike the DP World dispute which affected import and export container terminals around the country, the current dispute with Qube affects bulk commodities via Darwin, Fremantle, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Port Kembla.
The FTA’s director and Australian Peak Shippers Association (APSA) secretariat, Paul Zalai, points to the devasting impact on regional communities, “Farmers are in need of imported fertiliser and machinery and furthermore, they are totally dependent on a reliable access to international markets for grain and other bulk transported commodities”.
“Similarly, the mining sector are also facing unplanned delays in receiving essential equipment,” Mr Zalai said.
“The building sector, already under intense scrutiny with an inability to keep up with housing demand, is being deprived of all forms of steel imports and bulk cement.”
Mr Zalai noted that while there has been some relief with the emergence of Newcastle as an option to handle car imports, this too has significantly added to costs and disrupted the operations of logistics providers having to adjust operations from Port Kembla to Newcastle.
Mr Zalai said that reform to industrial relations law is critical, “While it is essential that workers’ rights are protected, Australian trade needs to flow and can no longer suffer protracted disputes”.
“Future negotiation and arbitration processes need to be fast-tracked to ensure business continuity and to avoid further reputational harm to Australia as a viable trading nation.”
