Published: 23 Mar 2011
Rail, road and maritime unions unite.
The Transport Union has now joined the RTBU, MUA and the other left Unions in a state alliance.
Newly elected TWU State Secretary P. Biagani met with the unions in earlier this year and welcomed the opportunity to involve his union in the Transport Unions Alliance
Unions held a number of rallies including on the steps outside the venue of the State Conference and around the State last year and with the assistance of the Queensland Council of Unions in opposition to the government privatisation push. But at the time the TWU was not involved and the ports have since been leased out.
This is despite Professor Bob Walker taking the anti privatisation argument up with the State Treasurer and Deputy Treasurer based on economic grounds, to argue against the sale going ahead.
Privatisation will affect all unions involved in port operations. With the introduction of Hutchinson Port Holdings into Queensland in the next two or three years, there is no doubt that the knock-on effects will create further problems as companies compete for the same amount of work notwithstanding the predictable natural growth each year.
But with the TWU now joining other unions, future meetings are planned to engage members, pool resources and synergies that will no doubt arise in the future, both politically and industrially.
