SVITZER maritime employees are taking yet more protected industrial action this coming week.

The Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers, Australian Maritime Officers Union and the Maritime Union of Australia have given notification of industrial action at Svitzer starting today (28 October) and continuing through 2 November.

This round of industrial action includes 48 hours of work stoppages at Cairns and Mourilyan starting at 0001 on Tuesday 1 November. The notices also include a 24-hour work stoppage at the Port of Lucinda, also starting on Tuesday.

The notice also outlined other actions, including an indefinite ban on beginning a job that will take employees past the 12th hour of continuous duty, at Albany, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Cairns and Mourilyan, starting today.

There is also an indefinite ban on entering data into a Svitzer system at Melbourne, Sydney and Newcastle, starting today, as well as various other work bans commencing over the coming days.

A notice to customers from Svitzer said it is likely that additional notices of protected industrial action are forthcoming. It said the impact of these actions would vary from customer to customer, subject to shipping schedules.

“We are incredibly disappointed in this unnecessary and harmful action and sincerely regret its impact on your business,” the company said.

Today’s announcement is the latest salvo in protracted enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations – the workers’ previous agreement expired in 2019.

This week, the MUA carried out a four-hour work stoppage at ports in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

In a statement earlier this week, MUA assistant national secretary Jamie Newlyn pointed to recent incidents with the Portland Bay and Rio Madeira, and the important role Svitzer tug crews played in them.

“The crew aboard the Svitzer Glenrock set sail into open ocean in often horrendous conditions, leaving their families behind, to do work which is rightly described as heroic, yet they come home to an employer that disrespects them, undermines their safety at work, and seeks to trash their quality of life,” Mr Newlyn said.

“Svitzer is a disgrace to Denmark, a country which stands for the fair-go just like Australia. We remind [Svitzer parent company] AP Moller-Maersk of the values and principles their company claims to hold and ask them to consider whether the Australian managers of their towage subsidiary can be allowed to continue bringing this international company into disrepute with this appalling, immoral and unjust campaign against the workforce.”

In January, Svitzer applied to the Fair Work Commission to terminate the enterprise bargaining agreement with the MUA, AMOU and AIMPE.

The company has said the agreement had led to inefficiencies and limitations on workplace productivity.

In August the FWC postponed the proceedings on the EBA termination (which were to begin on 8 August) to December this year and February 2023. Subsequently, employment and workplace relations minister Tony Burke criticised Svitzer for the move to terminate the EBA.

An amendment to the Fair Work Act, currently before Parliament, would remove the company’s ability to unilaterally terminate enterprise bargaining agreements.