DP World begs for ‘cool off’ as strikes cause more damage than hack

DP World’s bid for FWC intervention follows the MUA giving notice that it would continue its industrial action until December 23. The Albanese government has not responded to industry requests to intervene.

Victoria’s Ports Minister Melissa Horne on Monday refused to intervene, as it was “a private commercial matter” and the action “has not resulted in significant disruptions to the supply chain in Victoria, with other terminals at the Port of Melbourne subcontracted to service vessels affected”.

FWC deputy president Melanie Binet reserved her decision late Tuesday night. However, it is a high bar for FWC to intervene to suspend protected action.

The MUA is taking action in support of 300 bargaining claims, including pay rises of 8 per cent a year, 13 per cent superannuation and increased contributions to the union’s income protection policy, which the stevedore says equates to a 0.25 per cent increase in the wage bill.

The union is also strongly resisting DP World’s bid to update its roster system to better respond to a 24/7 economy, saying more weekend and night shifts would interfere with family lives.

MUA national assistant secretary Adrian Evans said delays and backlogs were caused by DP World’s mismanagement of the IT systems that were the subject of the cyberattack.

“DP World’s Australian managers, and their ideologically driven legal representatives, only have themselves to blame for this collapse in the bargaining process,” he said.

“The MUA remain available to meet to bring the negotiations to a close, but management seem more focused on their Christmas holidays while expecting wharfies to continue to work 24/7 throughout the holiday season.”

The union had suspended some strikes last week in the hope of reaching an in-principle deal, but key issues remain outstanding.

Both sides have accused the other of walking away following the six days of FWC-assisted talks.

The stevedore says despite its willingness to continue talks the MUA abruptly withdrew on Saturday and the next day announced more work bans.

The MUA says the company effectively walked out of talks by advising it would not pick up negotiations until January 29, seven weeks later.

A DP World spokesman said that was incorrect.

In its application to FWC, DP World said the union’s industrial action had caused the loss of more than 50,000 containers to other stevedores, equivalent to a terminal’s monthly throughput.

Workers’ industrial action had also resulted in wage losses equivalent to a 30 per cent pay reduction.

“The broader Australian economy is experiencing increased pressure from escalated transport and logistics costs, impacting consumer pricing and the export sector,” it said.

Freight & Trade Alliance director Paul Zalai “conservatively” estimated the action was costing Australian trade more than $20 million a day, and that the backlog of 45,000 containers meant “we’re in a worse situation now than the well-publicised cyber incident”.

“The fact that the parties cannot settle their dispute is crippling our nation – the government cannot allow this to continue for the weeks and months ahead,” he said.

He said ships were skipping ports due to the delays and forcing importers to pay more to transport containers left in other states as a result.

One exporter expecting a vessel in Port Botany on November 28 said the ship had yet to arrive two weeks later due to re-scheduling, while more cancelled sailings were expected in the next five weeks.