MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA
MEDIA RELEASE
10 January 2025
Qube Ports chooses industrial action over resolution to industrial dispute
The blind ideology of Qube Ports managers is preventing ports throughout the Australian waterfront from returning to work, with the MUA offering compromises during negotiations which have been rejected by Qube.
The MUA's offer of compromise hinges upon non-cost outcomes around two final issues during negotiations with Qube.
Qube continue to reaffirm their intractable bargaining strategy as a tool to impose unfairness and have threatened the MUA with an intractable bargaining application at the Fair Work Commission yet again, in a clear sign of continued manipulation of the Australian industrial relations system.
The MUA stands by its offer to remove all industrial action immediately in all ports but Qube's ideological opposition to non-cost matters such as income protection insurance is holding their workforce and the community to ransom.
The MUA remains open to ongoing discussions with the company to achieve full and final settlement, but this is only possible if the company also comes to the bargaining table in good faith and leaves its ideological posturing at the door.
"Qube have only sent a decision maker in the last three of over sixty meetings. This is the example of manipulation of intractable bargaining the MUA was always concerned about," said Warren Smith, the Deputy National Secretary of the MUA.
"Qube and the MUA have a workable agreement on the table which would see all industrial action lifted and a conclusion to the negotiation process. But on two non-cost issues amidst continued company threats of intractable bargaining continued industrial conflict is inevitable. That's on Qube. The two issues relate to discrimination against workers who took industrial action and removing choice of workers to have IP, both at no cost to the agreed outcomes," Mr Smith added.
The MUA's membership of over 1000 workers at Qube Port's many sites around Australia have voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking action against the ASX listed stevedoring company. Through ballots undertaken of workers at each port ahead of protected industrial action, between 97 and 100% at all sites have supported and taken strike action in the face of an employer which has so far refused to take the negotiation process seriously.
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