Qld Labor pledge to create jobs for local seafarers

COUNCIL IN THE AGE OF COVID-19

Union holds its first online council meeting in midst of global pandemic

Councillors stand for one minutes silence in honour of the 50th anniversary of the collapse of the WestGate Bridge, Victoria’s worst industrial accident and the 35 workers who died. National Council of the Maritime Union of Australia division, Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union met in October, for the first time since the World Health Organisation declared a global pandemic. National Indigenous officer and Honorary NT Deputy Branch Secretary Thomas Mayor opened conference with an acknowledgement of country and First Nations people.

Using online technology, linking national with branch offices around the country, councillors came together to consider issues confronting the union. “The world has changed, and it won’t change back,” said National Secretary Paddy Crumlin. “But the threats haven’t changed. The polarisation of power, globally, the widening gap between the haves and have nots and the massive consolidation of wealth have never been greater.” Over two days, councillors considered key campaigns, policies and priorities in support of workingclass rights identified at the union’s Quadrennial National Conference in March the which will go to a vote of members at Annual General Meetings in November.

Guest speakers included Labor leader Anthony Albanese, infrastructure shadow minister Catherine King, WA Labor Senator Glenn Sterle and Australian Council of Trade Unions Secretary Sally McManus.

International guests included Symplicio Marques Ximenes Founder and President, AMTL - Maritime Union Timor Leste and Serafico Natalino Soares (Raffi) Board Management, AMTL.

“The world has changed, and it won’t change back. But the threats haven’t changed.”

– Paddy Crumlin

FUTURE OF THE UNION

The key to making the amalgamated union a success is consolidating political and financial power, while building unity and retaining the MUA identity – no small task for a division made up of around 12,000 members in an overall union of 110,000. “This is about building the vanguard of the union, without losing our militancy, industrial strength and independence in national in defence of maritime workers,” Crumlin said.

A committee on the Future of the Union would come back with a proposition and strategy going forward, he said.

WORKERS’ CAPITAL

The national secretary spoke on how the global workers’ capital movement was challenging the exploitation and inherent corruption imbued in market capitalism, including money laundering, executive greed and largesse and political patronage in self interest.

“It is about applying pressure so social, governance and environmental elements, alongside the right to bargain and Freedom of Association are all included in investment decisions,” he said. It was incumbent on the international trade union movement to be able to give leverage in the fight back against this executive largesse and economic deregulation allowing for tax evasion. This is why industry super was under attack. “The federal government is seeking to create a regulatory environment promoting the avoidance of scrutiny by attacking industry funds,” said Crumlin. “They are trying to separate super from workers and make sure the are separated from how their deferred wages in super are invested.” Crumlin said the union worked hard to ensure workers had dignity in retirement. Merging maritime and miners’ super was important to keep the funds viable. Meanwhile Industry Super Australia was planning a $19.5B pipeline of investment in projects and assets to drive national productivity and create 200,000 jobs over the next three years.

SHIPPING

Labor leader Anthony Albanese began his address to National Council from Newcastle acknowledging the traditional owners of the land before also acknowledging maritime workers for keeping the docks and ships going during the global crisis.

Albanese said the global pandemic had shown how vulnerable the nation was to international shocks. It highlighted how important good shipping policy was for workers, national security, the environment and the economy. “The current system is unsustainable, the abuse of the temporary licences and maritime crew visas is just not on,” he said. “We went to the last election with a policy for a vibrant, strategic Australian fleet. It was a good policy then and even better policy now.” Albanese attacked the government’s hypocrisy of touting Australian job creation, while replacing Australian seafarers on the coast with foreign seafarers. WA Senator Glenn Sterle described the licensing of foreign vessels and crew on the Australian trade as a terrible curse on the MUA membership and the whole transport chain.

“A major trucking employer came to me and pleaded for it to stop, saying it was killing the whole supply chain,” Steele said. Shadow infrastructure minister Catherine King reiterated Labor’s commitment to cabotage and training Australians to work in the shipping industry.

“We went to the last election with a policy for a vibrant, strategic Australian fleet. It was a good policy then and even better policy now.”

– Anthony Albanese

“They are dumping on us and forcing us down the gangway.”

– Warren Smith

“It’s disgraceful the way crews have been treated,” she said. Assistant National Secretary Ian Bray heads the union shipping campaign. He said the Canadian cabotage model held potential for Australian coastal shipping. Yet in Australia, Canadian Steamship Lines’ use of temporary licences (TL) was out of control. Union research uncovered 25 TL CSL vessels, while the one remaining Australian crewed vessel was being laid up in Malaysia due to no work, according to Assistant National Secretary Warren Smith. “They are dumping us and forcing us down the gangway, while flying FOC seafarers to work in our cabotage trades,” he said. Some of the TL vessels on the coast were former Australian vessels, which were sold to their own subsidiary in the Cayman Islands, renamed and brought back under a flag of convenience, with exploited international crew. The International Transport Workers’ Federation was investigating how to use the Modern Slavery Act against Fortescue and others, after a bunch of mining executives decided 20 seafarers on the Panama flagged Vega Dream carrying Australian iron ore should sail despite an outbreak of the virus on board.

CREW CRISIS

Elsewhere, exhausted crew, sometimes 18 months at sea, are floating off Hay Point coal terminal and all around the coast, ITF Australia Co-ordinator Dean Summers said. A cocktail of fatigue and exploitation made the risk of groundings and collisions all the greater. At the same time there were few controls over isolation and testing of crew in labour supply countries such as India and the Philippines. Pick up crew were often infected with COVID-19.

The ITF is calling for a task force to ensure labour supply countries have Australian standards, not Manila standards, otherwise unions would persist in demanding 14 days at sea quarantine before ships came into port. “The government threatened to call in the army over a four hour waterfront dispute,” said Summers, “But they are doing nothing about the ships banking up, choking trade all around the coast,” he said.

STEVEDORING

On the waterfront, enterprise agreements were protracted and heated with all four stevedoring negotiations now in play. (See p28). Good reason, Assistant National Secretary Warren Smith said, for the union to explore options for a return to industry employment. “Workers have grown up under the enterprise agreement system,” he said. “Our policy is to move back to industry agreements.” This would provide opportunities to address the peaks and troughs in the industry through transfers and industry labour pools. It could also improve industrial relations and help address the power imbalance between global terminal operators and increasingly small groups of employees on the ground. Rather than having to negotiate multiple agreements at the end of each work contract, it would be just the one. Industry employment was the norm on the waterfront up until the 1990s and is still in place in the USA and many parts of Europe.

LEGAL

Meanwhile employers were again resorting to court action to prevent workers taking protected industrial action and safety stoppages. Union lawyers are battling employers in no less than 15 legal cases in various jurisdictions. Chevron and Portland have been successes for the union as was its defence against the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Federal Court action over alleged unprotected industrial action at Hutchison. Maersk, DP World, Patrick Stevedores, Teekay, Qube, Smit Lamnalco Towage, Svitzer and further Hutchison cases are ongoing. Prime Minister Morrison

“The polarisation of power, globally, the widening gap between the haves and have nots and the massive consolidation of wealth have never been greater.”

– Paddy Crumlin

even refused to rule out sending in the military to ‘settle’ a waterfront dispute.

NATIONAL SECURITY LEGISLATION

At the same time, the government is trying to push through legislation to deny workers a Maritime Security ID Card based on an intelligence assessment by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. It means a worker could lose his or her job, based not on a conviction, but on a rumour or suspicion that the ACIC believes to be true. The union is lobbying to block the draconian legislation in the Senate in November.

FINANCE & MEMBERSHIP

Ongoing legal battles combined with the downturn and pandemic job loses impacted on union finances and superannuation savings. Border closures and the recession removed offshore vessels from the coast. Membership is in decline. But restrictions on travel and growing use of online video conferencing have created savings. “We’re using zoom to galvanise campaigns and involve the rank and file, by finding new efficient and more economic ways to defend the membership,” said Crumlin.

OFFSHORE

Offshore oil and gas have also been hit hard by the pandemic with Maersk, Swire, Atlas and Toll workers all facing redundancies. Australian Offshore Solutions and GO Offshore are using a Norwegianstyle roster with members taking leave without pay or getting top ups with the JobKeeper subsidy. After growing membership over two years to 1,333, the Offshore Alliance with the Australian Workers’ Union has also been hit by the downturn. The Alliance covers 17 offshore facilities and 63 companies. However, 96 members are now unemployed due to job losses across the hydrocarbon industry. “Companies are throwing plenty of resources at pushing back legally where possible against the union,” Deputy National Secretary Will Tracey reported. On a more positive note three new offshore wind projects are now on the table, Tracey reported.

OFFSHORE WIND

Alongside the 2.2-gigawatt Star of the South project off Gippsland, Victoria Pilot Energy are proposing a 1.1 GW offshore wind and onshore wind and solar power project South of Geraldton in WA. A huge, 10 GW, Newcastle proposal is also on the table. It is so big, the project could have its own local renewable manufacturing base. “We’ve got plenty of space in the port for offshore wind construction and maintenance,” said Tracey. “A project of this size is getting a lot of attention. We are looking for money from super to be thrown in. We are well ahead of the transition from LNG.” Since council met a fourth 360MW offshore wind proposal, for Burnie, Tasmania, has come to light. The union is also supporting research into possible other locations for Australian offshore wind projects. Queensland Branch Secretary Steve Cumberlidge reported on a pre-election pledge of the state government to invest $20 million in a government owned renewable energy agency. The union is also supporting the student climate strikes (see p2). “Full credit to this union, we are well ahead of the game,” said Tracey.

FIRST NATIONS

Thomas Mayor, gave reported on First Nation union issues alongside MUA seafarer indigenous seafarer Vicky-Ree Morta. He reported on a new initiative of holding monthly online meetings for indigenous, youth and women to provide the opportunity to develop future leaders. Polling had shown growing support for a ‘yes’ vote supporting constitutional change. While the government had initially dismissed the right of First Nations people to have a voice in parliament protected in the constitution, it is now reconsidering, Thomas reported. Thomas also reported on how the Black Lives Matter movement had put a mirror up against our own society and deaths in custody. “We had around one million people march in the streets, here,” he said. “Probably the biggest mobilisation of Australian support of First Nations people ever.” Meanwhile, the union had been successful in negotiating indigenous jobs with Gorgon and INPEX and Henderson and Hutchison. In Queensland a new company taking over Brisbane Ferries is taking on three indigenous crew.

WOMEN

National women’s officer Mich-Elle Myers reported on the campaign to get the Australian government to adopt ILO Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work (see p32).

Myers also called on national councillors to ensure domestic violence clauses were included in all enterprise agreement negotiations. She stressed the need to address gender balance in union governance, including having a woman on national executive.

UNITY BANK

During the pandemic, Unity Bank has been playing a key role in helping workers and veterans, by waiving loan repayments and reaching out to those in need. Chair Mick Doleman and Manager David Gilbert reported on the more than 500 members with $110 million in loan portfolios needing assistance. Bank staff had made 20,000 calls to members, many of them living alone, many not tech savvy, many without bank cards.

“So many lives, so many marriages, so many homes have been saved, by (Unity) Bank giving support when needed.”

– Mick Doleman

“Sometimes it was the only call they’d had in a month,” said Doleman. “So many lives, so many marriages, so many homes have been saved, by the bank giving support when needed.” While the Royal Commission into banking uncovered corruption and criminal activity with big banks, APRA is coming after community banking instead, Doleman warned. “We are targeted for our political views and our views about restructuring wealth,” he said.

VETERANS

In his address to national council, Jimmy Donovan, president MUA Veterans’ Association reflected on a decline in workers’ rights. “Before we had to struggle for what we got, but the struggle today is to hang on to what we gained,” he said. Donovan congratulated the union on the outstanding advancement of union democracy. At his first national conference in 1967 only two international guests were invited. At this year’s conference there were 200. “Every rank and file organisation was also represented,” he said. Secretary Fred Krausert told council that the work of the vets had not stopped during the pandemic with vets joining union pickets and campaigns. “We’ve written to assure our members we will continue to work together,” he said. “Comrades, our members are in dire straits. This government is the worst in history attacking the aged and less privileged. “ National Secretary Paddy Crumlin recognised the struggle of the union veterans to set up workers’ super for future generations, even though they did not get benefit themselves.

YOUTH

Council closed with a look to the future. MUA youth now make up around one in six members (2183). At the height of the pandemic it was youth who led car convoys in support of sacked ferry workers outside NRMA offices. During the Black Lives Matter and climate action rallies, MUA youth were also at the forefront, national organiser and youth leader Aarin Moon reported. Liam Kelly, Newcastle tugs will represent MUA youth at the ACTU. •