The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) said it had reached a breakthrough with the country’s largest container terminal operator that would deliver a new workplace agreement by the end of September.
The deal would end a long-running industrial dispute across container terminals in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Fremantle operated by the Australian unit of Dubai giant DP World.
The union said on Friday that DP World Australia has notified workers that it anticipates finalising workplace agreements with the union by 30 September.
“The progress to resolve the long-running dispute follows productive negotiations between the MUA and [DP World Australia] this week,” the union said.
This has been confirmed to TradeWinds by DP World Australia, whose chief operating officer of terminals, Andrew Adam, attributed the progress to withdraw all industrial activity at DP World Australia's terminal in Sydney.
"We anticipate being able to finalise and agreement at DP World Sydney in the coming week. We are encouraged with the progress we have made in Sydney this week," he said.
Last week the union agreed to suspend all forms of planned industrial action at the terminal as “a show of good faith” in an effort to assist with the finalisation of agreements for the four terminals.
The union’s national secretary, Paddy Crumlin, said the breakthrough “demonstrated that the proper application of bargaining was capable of resolving long-running, complex disputes”.
“After two years of difficult negotiation, this is a significant breakthrough that will provide industrial certainty at Australia’s largest container terminals,” he said.
“We are currently working with the company to turn this in-principle agreement into a final document that will lock in fair and productive outcomes for workers and the company over the next four years.
“Efforts over the last week have shown that when both sides sit down in a mature fashion to bargain in good faith, it delivers results.”
Crumlin added that the breakthrough outlined a path for other stevedoring companies to resolve outstanding issues, “rather than beat up public anxiety in an effort to drive political agendas or attempt to gain unfair and cynical leverage in negotiations”.
The dispute, which is over new pay and work contracts, has been dragging on since September 2018.
The two sides have clashed numerous times, with tensions reaching a peak in January when the union launched a 24-hour strike at DP World’s Fremantle terminal in western Australia.
Shortly thereafter, the Australia's Federal Court issued an interim injunction prohibiting more than 1,800 of the union’s workers employed at DP World Australia container terminals from undertaking industrial action as part of their fight for a new workplace agreement.
