Raise the Red Ensign

Maritime workers rally around the coast against the loss of the Australian merchant marime

In Sydney maritime workers rallied outside the offices of ISM, in Port Kembla they mobilised local community around the Ikuna, in Brisbane they ambushed the Stadacona, in the Commission and Courts our solicitors wrangled with international shipowners and in the grey suited government offices in Philip Street Sydney, the union called for the retention of the Australian flag in defence of national security.

The on-going battle to retain the Australian merchant marine is not just about jobs; it's in the national interest.

Flag of convenience ships shamed in MUA protest, the Australian Associated Press report was headlined in the international press:

"Merchant seafarers made waves outside a shipping company's Sydney offices today, protesting against the registration of ships under cost-saving 'flags of convenience'."

The union protest was directed against Intercontinental Ship Management (ISM), which flagged out the Wallarah and Sandra Marie under the Tongan flag - a register notorious for its links with international terrorism.

Tongan flagged ships have been involved in people smuggling operations (the Monica) and gun running (Karine A), with the US Navy last year searching at least one of their fleet as part of its hunt for vessels linked to Osama bin Laden.

"The Howard Government has allowed Australian flag shipping to be replaced by foreign flag shipping, jeopardising our defence," National Secretary Paddy Crumlin told Australia's Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade during public hearings on maritime strategy in Phillip St, Sydney. "It is also jeopardising our coastal security by allowing FoC vessels favoured by international terrorist networks to replace Australian vessels on our coast."

He said Australia's merchant marine was so depleted that the Australian/UN mission in Dili had to enlist Indonesian crewed vessels to back up its mission against Indonesian militias in East Timor in 1999.

The MUA submission From Dunkirk to Dili; Tampa and Terror, highlights the importance of a strong national flag fleet to the security of the nation - from the evacuations of allied forces at Dunkirk right through to the war against terror of the new millennium.

The national secretary called on the government to return to a bi-partisan approach to shipping and protect the national flag by tightening loopholes in the Navigation Act, which permit FoC ships to undercut Australian flag vessels and trade on our coast.

This is how the Ikuna and the San Maria operate.

The Tongan register is also a flag infamous for crew exploitation - one reason that shipowners and shippers find it so attractive.

"The going rate for a Tongan seafarer is $US186 ($A306) a month," said Dean Summers, the Australian coordinator for the International Transport Federation (ITF).

"(ISM should) pay these people the proper rate of a minimum $US1, 300 ($A2, 143) a month or replace them with Australian seafarers, or get out of shipping," he told AAP and ABC Radio.

"They told us we're not competitive, we're over-paid," said Nathan Niddrie, one of 17 MUA crew who lost his job when the Wallarah reflagged in May last year. "We've talked to the Tongan guys and if they question what the company's doing or the pay they get, they get sent home."

Crewmate Roger Sanderson told the media he blamed the government more than ISM.

"I feel extreme disappointment in our present government and their policies that are creating unnecessary unemployment for this generation and future generations of Australians," he said.

National Shipping Campaign Co-ordinator Sean Chaffer and Summers then led a small delegation into the ISM offices to confront executive Martin Ives. But ISM refused to talk to the media.

It was not the first rally against the FoC ships trading on our coast, nor will it be the last.

In Port Kembla the trades and labour council is backing the MUA with a community and media campaign against the Ikuna at its regular port of call.

In January the ship picked up anchor and sailed ahead of schedule to escape community wrath, Branch Secretary Mark Armstrong reports.

South Coast labour Council Secretary Arthur Rorris and Assistant Secretary Gary Keane and Armstrong boarded the ship days earlier to confront the ships captain and engineer about crew wages.

The community was then organised to rally around the issues of crew exploitation, loss of Australian jobs and port security.

But the ship left the grain terminal under cover of dark, without its cargo of grain for New Zealand.

"They must have got wind of our protest and decided to scarper," Rorris told the Illawarra Mercury.

Graincorp denied the reports.

Meanwhile union solicitors continue to fight to have the Stadacona and the CSL Pacific roped in under the Australian award while trading on the coast. Last year the full bench of the Commission ruled in favour of the union's case being heard, but CSL ran to the High Court questioning the IRC having jurisdiction. Their case was rejected and the hearings are yet to begin.

At the same time CSL is attempting to sue the maritime unions, ACTU President Sharan Burrow, AWU Secretary Bill Shorten and MUA officials in the High Court for allegedly threatening to prevent their ships trading on the coast.

The MUA battle with CSL is the focus of a Canadian current affairs report, which was to go to air in March.