Wharfies earn $172,000 a year as farmers cop brunt of port row

The dispute at Patrick has seen many rail windows cancelled forcing major exporters such as Manildra Group and Fletcher International to redirect rail containers to road - causing a massive handling charge blow-out and increasing port congestion.

Manildra Group says the wage dispute between the Maritime Union of Australia and Patrick is costing "millions of dollars" to the bottom line and threatening major export markets - in the midst of a pandemic.

Because of now significant delays to shipping of up to seven days, Manildra is sometimes being forced to "chase" ships to other ports in Australia with their export goods such as glucose and starch as the ships bypass Port Botany. This is also putting huge pressure on road transport.

Patrick Terminal's chief executive Michael Jovicic revealed waterfront workers are already earning a huge wage - $172,000 for just under 200 days of work a week.

Mr Jovicic said, "already our full time employees in Sydney on a 35 hour roster earn $172,124 per annum inclusive of bonuses and overtime for an average number of 198 days worked per annum".

"The offer on the table means that our employees are in the top 3.8% earners in the country and these guaranteed increases are very generous," he said. Patrick has offered a 2.5 per cent wage increase annually over four years but insists it wants the right to pick its own employees on the waterfront.

Unbelievably at Melbourne, the MUA said it had clinched up to a 46 per cent pay rise with a container terminal. The MUA last week announced it had sealed a deal with the Victoria International Container Terminal at Melbourne's Webb Dock that will see 75 per cent of casual roles being converted to permanent jobs, "along with pay increases of between 14.5 and 46.5 per cent over four years, depending on employment classifications".

The MUA has already struck wage deals with two other stevedores at Port Botany - Hutchison and DP World. In the Hutchison deal, the MUA won a right to 26 days domestic violence leave for workers.

The Port Botany dispute has staggered farmers trying to get one of the best harvests in living memory out to export.

Kevin Tongue whose family line has run Glenwood at Loomberah near Tamworth for over 110 years has seen many things return, drought, floods and bushfires, but one thing he thought had gone keeps returning - waterfront disputes.

The Tongues run a prime lamb, barley, canola, and beef cattle operation. "This is a kick in the guts for everyone coming out of the drought," he says. Mr Tongue is also a long-time NSW Farmers member. "Even though we had a good year last year most farmers need at least three good seasons to get back on their feet after the drought. We are also facing rising fertiliser and fuel costs, so any new charges such as extra freight handling will hurt us."

Some estimates on the extra freight charge because of the dispute have been put at $20 a tonne.

It's also hit Dubbo's big meat processor Fletcher International who are struggling to meet export schedules because of the delays. Ships are being delayed up to seven days at the port. Fletcher is on the verge of cancelling a $1 million equipment order from the US because of uncertainty the ship would get to Australia by the time the equipment is needed. Fletcher owner Roger Fletcher says he's seriously considering moving his freight from rail in containers to bulk.

"It's very disruptive. We'll probably have to bulk ship more. This is very unfair on Australia and the Australian workforce, it makes jobs insecure. It's a disaster. They're basically saying 'bugger the farmers'."

Patrick says it become impossible to run the rail freight windows at the Port because the MUA was conducting stop work meetings for up to an hour three times a day.

Patrick's latest update on the dispute as of Monday July 5 was:

Patrick's Mr Jovicic said the company "has provided a deal to the MUA which is comparable to other stevedores pay increases, on top of the already generous conditions that we provide to our employees.

"We are asking the MUA for one change to our current arrangement in Port Botany that would remove the need for the MUA to agree to Patrick's ability to recruit. Patrick need the ability to recruit employees as required in order to operate our business and respond to market demand. This is a fundamental requirement for any business to be able to increase their workforce commensurate with workload demand.

"This approval process with the MUA has taken on average 7 months under the present arrangement, which means that the Patrick business is at risk of losing significant market share by not being able to respond to market requirements in a timely manner. The MUA continues to have a stranglehold over the waterfront due to this requirement and like any business, we need to have the ability to hire when we need to maintain our service offering to our customers."

Also read: John Barilaro says NSW Nationals ready to 'fight' Liberals over Newcastle port container terminal deal after court ruling

Paul Zalai, Director of Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) and Secretariat to the Australian Peak Shippers Association (APSA) said "Patrick has made the unilateral decision to cancel a significant proportion of rail windows from 24 June to 15 July 2021".

"This action, conducted without any consultation with exporters, will have devastating economic impacts on the NSW economy. The immediate result will mean that regional exporters reliant on rail to move goods to the port will again face additional logistics costs."

Mr Zalai warns "The additional cost is one factor, however a critical concern for the entire import and export supply-chain is that with a bumper season for the agriculture sector, container volumes will quickly mount at these transition points with the intermodals and empty container parks likely to very quickly become heavily congested."

"We are now seeking an urgent meeting with Patrick executives, but we do not expect that they will deviate away from their position, nor are we confident that that they and the MUA are likely to settle their differences after what has been an extensive and prolonged negotiation."

The peak industry alliance is escalating its plea to the Attorney-General for immediate Fair Work Commission intervention and for the Federal Government to initiate a broader review on waterfront industrial relations.

The MUA said it would not dignify the $172,000 wage claim by Patrick with a response - only saying a lot of it was made up bonuses from management for high productivity. In a statement for The Land, MUA Assistant National Secretary Jamie Newlyn said:

"Patrick said they wanted a rollover of the current agreement, but then made additional claims, including changes to the existing recruitment clause.

"This clause was previously agreed to by the company and has worked effectively during the operation of the current agreement. In that time the company has been able to recruit 50 permanent positions as well as 46 casual roles to meet demand.

"It is simply not true that this clause results in a seven month delay to recruit new workers.

"As a demonstration of goodwill, MUA members did not take any form of industrial action between September last year and May this year in an effort to assist Patrick with the ongoing challenges posed by the COVID pandemic.

"All we want is for Patrick to genuinely negotiate on the small number of issues that remain so that we can finalise a fair agreement that provides certainty for workers, the company, and customers."

A comment was sought from the National Farmers Federation.

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