INDUSTRIAL ROUNDS
VICT – WAGE CUTS AND AUTOMATED JOBS A THREAT TO EVERY AUSTRALIAN WATERSIDE WORKER
How a single agreement allowing workers in the Philippines to do waterside jobs in Melbourne remotely threatens the destruction of the future of the Australian industry. Deputy national secretary Will Tracey reports
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he Webb Dock (Victorian International Container Terminal) agreement, is a threat to the future wages and conditions of every Australian waterside worker. It undermines the proud history of struggle by generations of Australian waterside workers, their families and the communities in which they live to provide some of the best wages and conditions for workers in this country. Under the agreement for VICT’s Melbourne Webb Dock terminal we have seen approximately five jobs (gatehouse and shoreside equipment control - EC - roles) every 12 hour shift transferred to the Philippines. These were jobs being performed at this terminal when it commenced operations.
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Wages in the Philippines are less than 25 per cent of the Australian stevedoring industry rate. Workers at the site tell us the company is saying that automated crane roles will be the next to go. For now we understand they won’t shift crane operator jobs to the Philippines until the critical issue of delays has been resolved. The implications of automated jobs shifting offshore for the stevedoring industry worldwide are dramatic. Companies are now able to relocate automated jobs to lower wage, non-union regions. If Rio Tinto can run their automated Pilbara operations – driverless trucks and trains and automated load-out facilities – more than a thousand kilometres away at Perth airport, companies can also operate ports from overseas. www.mua.org.au
