PATRICK Terminals and the Maritime Union of Australia reached an in-principle agreement late Friday after two years of at times acrimonious enterprise bargaining negotiations.
The in-principle agreement must now be voted on by the MUA members. The Fair Work Commission will then ratify the agreement. Once ratified, the new agreement will be in place until 31 December 2025.
Under the new agreement, all employment will be fully at the discretion of Patrick Terminals, DCN understands. The company will be able to recruit without union approval.
The agreement includes a 4% wage rise for wharfies, effective 1 January 2022, as well as further yearly pay rises of 2.5% or in line with the consumer price index (whichever is higher) and sign-on bonuses for permanent and casual employees.
MUA assistant secretary Jamie Newlyn said the new enterprise agreement that has been agreed upon would deliver pay increases above industry standard, job security assurances, as well as “fairness and dignity for hard-working members at Patrick’s four terminals around Australia”.
“Despite a political campaign of misinformation and interference by the ACCC, the Productivity Commission and even Scott Morrison, the Union has always sought to work co-operatively with Patrick Terminals’ management on continuous business improvement to ensure job security, safety, and productivity at Patrick Terminals’ four ports,” Mr Newlyn said.
“By negotiating in good faith throughout this process, the MUA has sought to improve certainty and ensure 24/7 operations at Patrick Terminals’ ports during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and for our frontline workforce to continue working co-operatively and efficiently in the national interest.”
A spokesperson for Patrick said the agreement came after a long process of conciliation on many issues but the company is waiting on the member vote before commenting further.
The current enterprise agreement that covers Patrick employees expired on 30 June 2020 and negotiations on a new agreement have been ongoing since February 2020.
The union’s campaign of industrial action commenced on 4 September 2020 and carried on through early November, when it withdrew all pending notices of industrial action after Patrick filed an application with the FWC to force the union to terminate the actions.
Patrick in late October 2021 filed an application with the FWC to terminate the current agreement. Hearings on the application began on 17 January.
Patrick’s application to terminate the existing agreement will cease when the new deal is endorsed by the employees and ratified by the FWC.
