ELECTION 2022
“I bloody hope Labor gets in” J
asmine Loades, 19, has worked on the Newcastle wharves for just six months and loves it. The job runs in her veins. Jasmine is a 5th generation wharfie. Her uncle is the union delegate. “It’s pretty cool working with your uncle. A lot of fun. Our family are a very close working-class union family. I see myself staying here. It’s just an honour. I love working with the other blokes. We’ve got 7-8 women working here and lots of young people. I work down the hold, on the fork and I aim to get my crane licence next.” Jasmine says her employer Newcastle Stevedores is a good company to work for, with lots of people jumping ship from Qube/Patrick because the conditions are so much better. The enterprise
agreement got up no drama – unlike Qube. Jasmine wasn’t even born when the 1998 Patrick dispute saw waterside workers locked out nationwide under a Howard Government/ Patrick Stevedores conspiracy, but her uncle told her all about it. “That dispute was crazy. It was so rough for them. We are all so lucky the union is strong. If the current government gets re-elected, we are all going to be in a bit of strife. The Labor Party is strongly advocating for us, for Australian shipping and Australian seafarers’ and workers’ rights. I bloody hope Labor gets in. It will definitely make a difference to our rights as workers. My uncles both go and hand out on polling day at the local school. I’m going to join them.”•
