To affiliates organising seafarers & dockers
To ITF Inspectors & Co-ordinators

ITF Circular No: 237/S.83/D.45/SS.39/1997

SSD/AMD/KM/2241

23 September 1997

Dear Friends

Mutual solidarity between seafarers and dockers

We are writing to advise you about events which took place in Australia last week which saw a successful joint action between the ITF affiliated Maritime Union of Australia and the Seafarers' and Dockers' Sections of the ITF.

In the second week of September the ITF Secretariat was informed about an attempt by an Australian stevedoring company in the port of Cairns to replace unionised waterfront workers with un-organised labour employed under individual contracts of employment. This attempt by the company fits in very well with the Australian Government's stated policy to undermine the MUA's position in the Australian port industry and ultimately to destroy the union completely. As we have already seen in New Zealand, the Australian Government has introduced similar legislation enabling employers of waterside labour to engage workers on the basis of individual employment contracts, ruling out collective bargaining agreements involving the MUA. The local stevedoring company in Cairns is thought to have acted on the advice of the Government Minister in charge of waterfront reforms and fired the unionised workers and replaced them with non-unionised workers.

In a joint initiative by the Seafarers' and Dockers' Sections the ITF contacted the owner and managers of one of the vessels bound for Cairns which was scheduled to be handled by the newly hired non-union labour and it was made clear to them that they were "likely to be come an innocent party in a bitter dispute between the Australian Government and organised labour in Australia.". We also told the manager that: "it is our intention to organise world-wide actions against ships that call at non-unionised ports where developments such as those unfolding in Cairns are taking place." In the port of Cairns the MUA initiated a campaign that included picketing the terminal gate. The national trade union centre of Australia, ACTU also backed the MUA. As a result of the joint action the captain was first instructed by the owner not to berth as scheduled but to hold the vessel at anchor outside the port and await further instructions. Later, after intensive negotiations between local MUA port officials and the parent company the unionised stevedoring company was re-hired and the ship was eventually handled by MUA members. The victory in Cairns was complete and the Governments plans to undermine the MUA were dealt a serious blow.

These events attracted enormous attention in Australia and generated a great deal of support for the trade union movement in general and the MUA in particular. However, as a disappointed Workplace Relations Minister, Peter Reith, immediately pointed out, he would press ahead with waterfront reforms. As we all realise one victory in a North-eastern Australian port will not be enough to stop the Australian Governments policy to replace unionised workers with unorganised labour and to undermine the MUA's position in the port industry and does not prevent similar policies being introduced by other governments and port employers around the world.

The joint action of the MUA and ITF's seafarers' and dockers' Sections is, however, a concrete example of the benefits of joint co-operation between seafarers and dockers. It illustrates how the ITF can be a very effective force in support of dockers. This is the third occasion when the policies adopted by the Dockers' Section Conference in Miami in June 1997 have been put to into effect. We have already seen the positive effects in Poland, where the whole privatisation process of the port industry has been postponed and Rotterdam, where Maersk were persuaded to accept a level of working conditions comparable with those at existing terminals, in the event that Maersk would commence their own terminal operations.

The Seafarers' Section Conference in Singapore on 8-10 October will discuss the Resolutions adopted by the Dockers' Section with a view to committing ITF affiliated seafarers' unions to supporting dockers as they fight attempts by port authorities and governments to de-regulate and de-unionise ports around the world. We hope that the solidarity shown by the seafarers' unions in supporting the MUA will go a long way to illustrating the value of such a stance.

Yours fraternally

Mark Dickinson
Assistant General Secretary

Kees Marges
Dockers' Section Secretary