INDUSTRIAL
ROGUE EMPLOYER Svitzer Towage attack workers
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n January, Bosses at Svitzer Towage applied to the Fair Work Commission to terminate the Enterprise Agreement after 2 years of bargaining in an act of militant employer brinksmanship that would ultimately strip their entire towage workforce of conditions of employment gained over decades. The controversial move came after workers voted down a non-union agreement that Svitzer circulated without the combined unions endorsement and was rejected by 98% of workers nationwide in December 2021. In a joint media release the MUA joined engineers’ and officers’ unions (AIMPE and AMOU) in calling out the action. Ditching the enterprise agreement and moving the entire workforce onto the award, would cut not just wages and conditions, but port productivity. It is the same gambit Patrick used, then abandoned, and is widely viewed in labour circles as a device to slash wages and conditions. Both Svitzer and Patrick are using the same legal firm with similar tactics. “The social and economic impacts for all Australians of Svitzer’s proposed action – and its consequences – cannot be overstated,” the joint union statement declared. “Svitzer must not be allowed to cut adrift their loyal workers at such a difficult time, simply to improve their company’s bottom line.” Sydney Deputy Branch Secretary Paul Garrett who is helming negotiations for the MUA said “Svitzer continually strive to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in these negotiations. When parties were only a few matters away, Svitzer dropped
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their “Dirty 30” claims in attempt to open up the whole EBA and strip away towage conditions from their employees. Svitzers actions in the past two years are the practical example of the textbook definition in how not to conduct negotiations.” Svitzer’s attack on unions is not confined to Australia. Workers in the Netherlands and the UK are also under attack. International Transport Workers Federation unions representing workers across the Maersk supply chain addressed shareholders at the group’s AGM in Copenhagen on March 15. Svitzer is a global towage provider and a subsidiary of AP MollerMaersk. Maersk posted a record $24B profit in March – triple that of the previous year. “That is larger than the entire annual national budgets of Slovenia, Lithuania or Nigeria,” said ITF Maritime Coordinator Jacqueline Smith announced. While the company is taking a leading role in climate, its labour rights performance in towage and trucking violates its own values set out in its Sustainability Report 2021. “Maersk commits on paper to treating workers with respect and fairness including ‘constructive employee relations’. This can only exist by respecting the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, which means actively engaging with trade unions,” she said. ITF Maersk Network Coordinator Kulsoom Jafri addressed AP Moller-Maersk shareholders at its AGM on how its subsidiary Svitzer
was undermining the rights, pay and conditions of workers in Australia, the Netherlands and the UK. In the Netherlands, the company has established a second corporate entity which is refusing to establish a collective agreement with unions. In the UK, Svitzer management has announced plans to freeze the pay of tug workers at Teesport, which has pushed tug staff to vote 100% in favour of strike action. The interventions of the ITF at the AP Moller - Maersk AGM went ignored when the Global CEO of Svitzer, Kasper Friis Nilaus visited Australia in March and refused to meet with its crews or the Maritime Unions to resolve the bargaining impasse. Assistant National Secretary Jamie Newlyn said “Kasper Friis Nilaus was met with a demonstration in Victoria when he attempted to visit the port for a tug boat river cruise. He left in no uncertain terms the disgust his Svitzer employees feel towards managers in Australia and Denmark” Union negotiations with Svitzer continue as MWJ goes to press. •
www.mua.org.au
