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“Paralysing” Qube strike stopped

The protected industrial action being undertaken at Qube Ports sites will be withdrawn from all ports on Wednesday morning

The protected industrial action currently being undertaken against Qube Ports will be withdrawn from all ports from 07:00 on Wednesday, January 15th 2025.

Stalling negotiations between the Maritime Union of Australia and the stevedore company saw strikes being undertaken across a variety of Australian ports.

Prior to the withdrawing of the industrial action, Shipping Australia had called on the federal government to get involved in the stand-off in order to send it to the Fair Work Commission and end the strike, saying it had the potential to “paralyse” the Australian supply chain.

CEO of Shipping Australia Captain Melwyn Noronha says he hopes the end of the strike can pave the way for further negotiations between the parties.

“We hope the parties can now move forward to an equitable and amicable deal to allow vital supply chain business to resume as normal,” Noronha says.

“Unfortunately, there are other industrial actions underway in other parts of the Australian maritime sector and, looking forward, more to come.

“Reform in this area is long overdue so no single group, body or entity has the power to hold an entire nation to ransom.

“Clearly, there needs to be fundamental root-and-branch reform of industrial relations law and policy if Australia is to remain competitive on the world stage.”

Currently, the notice period that is given before strike action is three days, however Shipping Australia has called for that period to be extended to 21 days in order to cover 14 days of sailing time to and from South East Asia, a further six days for cargo staging time and a further one day of buffer time to enable carriers, shippers, exporters and importers to work around disruptions.

“Shipping Australia therefore calls for enterprise bargaining at waterfront-related companies to take place on a staggered schedule – varied by both company and, for large companies, staggered by geographical location,” Shipping Australia says.

“So that no one industrial action can disrupt all of Australia’s trade at once.

“We also call for shorter, fixed bargaining periods with an automatic referral to the Fair Work Commission for determination and settlement of disputes if parties cannot reach an agreement”

The strike at Qube’s facilities covered operations in Brisbane, Port Kembla, Melbourne, Darwin and Fremantle, with the MUA reportedly pushing for a pay rise of 130 per cent above the stevedoring award.

The MUA, however, said Qube had failed to take the negotiations seriously and only sent decision-making representatives to three out of over 60 meetings, and said the ongoing dispute centred around two non-cost issues.

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