Fremantle Port industrial dispute: Industrial Relations Minister Michaelia Cash to intervene

The Federal Minister for Industrial Relations will intervene in the long-running industrial dispute at Fremantle Port which is putting a stranglehold on everything from new cars and structural steel for homes, to harvesters and mining machinery. Michaelia Cash last night confirmed to The West Australian the Commonwealth would intervene to attempt to end the industrial action between logistics provider Qube and the Maritime Union of Australia, two days after WA Ports Minister Rita Saffioti urged the Fair Work Commission to break up the dispute. It is expected to evolve again today after the MUA late yesterday sent a message to members scheduling a meeting for 6am Friday “in light of some important developments in our bargaining dispute with Qube”. The move also came after ABN Group managing director Dale Alcock wrote to Senator Cash yesterday to seek her help, saying the strikes were causing “absolute chaos” and risked delaying thousands of new builds. The industrial action, which is the result of a stalemate over work rosters, has been running since July 30 but has escalated in recent weeks. Several ships carrying crucial farming equipment — needed for WA’s upcoming grain harvest — and mining machinery have been diverted to Melbourne and Adelaide, meaning their contents would need to be trucked back to WA at significant cost. Shipping lines have now stopped taking bookings for cargo delivery into Fremantle Port, with Qube expecting delays to extend beyond 50 days. The West Australian can also reveal 161 new cars, due to land at Fremantle next week, will not arrive due to Norwegian shipping company Wallenius Wilhelmsen avoiding Fremantle and the industrial action. A further 92 machines — the majority agricultural — would also be diverted. Senator Cash said Federal intervention was a “last resort” but was absolutely necessary in this matter. “The protracted industrial dispute ... has been going on for far too long and is causing financial harm to the Western Australian economy, damaging the reputation of Fremantle Port and putting jobs at risk,” Senator Cash said. Senator Cash said she would seek that the FWC terminate the industrial action. It would ultimately be decided by the FWC despite the Commonwealth making submissions advocating for the dispute to end. Mr Alcock said ABS’ major steel supplier, LEETS, had indicated it would run out of stock of structural steel within days and had struggled to get the materials out of Fremantle Port required to complete homes. “It will unfortunately delay our client’s home even further ... it could lead to stand downs of staff because we can’t continue with works on site and unfortunately it could mean our subcontractors run out of work in the short term — which is a ludicrous proposition.” LEETS general manager Anthony Martinovich said some steel orders were already coming in eight months’ late due to international shipping delays stemming from COVID-19. The average lead time for an order is three months. “If this was just a port and we weren’t COVID-affected we’d probably all be OK but because every State is busy at the moment it’s a perfect storm,” he said. A spokeswoman for Qube confirmed steel products were left on the docks at the beginning of the dispute after the MUA “threatened” truck drivers who were coming to the port to collect steel products. However, she said Qube had since found a trucking company “who were prepared to collect and would not be intimidated by the MUA” and that products were now flowing. On Tuesday, Ms Saffioti said while the State Government was not party to the dispute as it was governed by the Commonwealth Fair Work Act 2009, she wanted the FWC to intervene for the sake of the State’s economy. A FWC hearing late Tuesday failed to resolve the dispute after the MUA opposed ending the strike and Qube did not want to enter conciliation. It’s understood the State Government did not consider it appropriate for Ms Saffioti or a representative to attend the hearing. “It is disappointing it has gotten to this point and I strongly encourage both parties to work together to come to an agreement,” Ms Saffioti said yesterday. In a statement yesterday, the MUA condemned Qube for failing to participate in conciliation, adding: “It’s time they took off their ideological blinkers and resolve a dispute which is primarily about the rights of workers to have a safe place of work.” Usually notified of each shift at 4pm the day before — as per their agreement since 1999 — MUA members have been calling for it to be changed to 2pm instead to be able to have “work-life balance”. Qube ports director Michael Sousa said yesterday it had continued to bargain with the MUA as late as Wednesday afternoon with another meeting scheduled for 10am today. He said if Qube were to accept the union’s claims, it would amount to a 77 per cent increase in operational costs and make the business unviable. Full-time employees working for Qube in Fremantle earn on average $139,500 per annum for 169 days of work.