THE MARITIME Union of Australia has notified Qube Ports of further protected Industrial Action for participating members at the Port of Brisbane.
The union has announced a total of 168 consecutive hours of work stoppages for Qube workers in Brisbane, commencing on 8 January at 2300, spanning an entire seven days.
The latest round of industrial action comes as negotiations between the maritime union and port operator remain stalled, after the last employment agreement expired in June last year.
Both parties have accused one another of stalling the bargaining process, as the possibility of the sides requiring compulsory arbitration before the fair work commission in May becomes increasingly more likely.
In November, a spokesperson for Qube said, “Far from trying to drag negotiations out, Qube has had a generous wage offer on the table as far back as July”.
“It would see stevedores, who are already paid 143% above the award, lock in pay rises of 5 per cent in each of the first two years of new agreements and 4 per cent for each of the two years after that, with backpay to 1 July 2024.
“The union unilaterally rejected that offer and negotiations have gone nowhere because the CFMEU refuses to negotiate on their long list of claims that would more than double Qube Ports’ operating costs.”
At that time, the MUA had levied a number of accusations against the port operator, accusing Qube of delaying or disrupting the bargaining process, attempting to manipulate industrial relations laws, and being out of touch with the community.
“Qube has one clear objective here, which is to trigger intractable bargaining provisions within the industrial relations laws, so they can avoid participating in genuine negotiation,” said Warren Smith, the deputy national secretary of the MUA.
“Their end goal is to get an arbitrated outcome which they believe will be better than what they can manage with their own negotiators around the bargaining table.”
The union has also previously criticised Qube’s rostering system, which it said leaves wharfies exhausted. One of the MUA’s principal claims is for roster allocations provided by 12pm the day before a shift, instead of the current 4pm allocation.