Hutchinson Updates

After three years of negotiations, the Maritime Union of Australia has reached a ground-breaking workplace agreement with the world’s largest stevedoring company, setting a new industry standard at container terminals in Sydney and Brisbane.

Workers will receive five 2.5 per cent wage increases over the four year agreement once certified by the Fair Work Commission.

By Unions NSW Assistant Secretary Emma Maiden

Graeme is 54 years old. In the last 15 years, he has been made redundant five times, most recently via email and text message by Hutchison at Port Botany. His story is not uncommon: secure quality jobs in Australia are fast disappearing.

Hutchison Port Botany has a new mailing address: Struggle Village, 97 Sirius Road, Botany, NSW

"No Junk Mail from Hutchison management," Assistant Sydney Branch Secretary Joe Deakin said. 

As the union moves into negotiations in the Fair Work Commission (FWC) over the next couple of days, the community assemblies remain ongoing.

Assistant National Secretary Warren Smith, who is taking part in the FWC discussions, said it was important to keep up the pressure because the company would never had come to the table if the assemblies were not initiated in Brisbane and Sydney.

Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) National Secretary Paddy Crumlin has welcomed Hutchison Ports Australia back to the negotiating table following the sacking of 97 wharfies three weeks ago.

After a three-week, self-imposed media blackout, Hutchison corporate have come out of the wilderness in issuing a statement from its Hong-Kong parent company, in attempt to 'clarify' the company's actions.

Full of misleading statements and outright inaccuracies the statement does very little to clarify anything and only serves to further muddy the already bracken water.

The statement is below:

HPA clarifies position on Industrial Dispute and text message communications to staff

As a result of Hutchison’s intransigence in negotiations the Maritime Union of Australia has been forced to ramp up its campaign. 

Today, in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, members and their supporters took the protest to Vodafone, which is half owned by Hutchison.

The groups in each city targeted retail stores and handed out leaflets informing the public of what had happened to the 97 sacked Hutchison wharfies.

Workers sacked by midnight text and email nearly three weeks ago by Hutchison Ports Australia will take their campaign to the streets in three capital cities today to join the #BigLittleProtest run by Vodafone Australia – which is half owned by Hutchison. - 

The 97 workers – who have still not been rostered on despite a Federal Court injunction granted because of a lack of adequate consultation with respect to forced redundancies – are fed up with Hutchison’s attitude in negotiations.

By Glenda Korporaal

Sacking an employee by email or text may be technically legal, but a recent move by Hutchison Ports to sack almost 100 workers in Sydney and Brisbane by text and email stands as a warning for other employers on the many risks of following suit.

It has become a template of how not to do it,” says Sydney ­barrister Jeff Phillips SC.

British Labour star Jeremy Corbyn has conveyed his support for the Maritime Union of Australia in its ongoing dispute with Hutchison Ports.  

The 66-year-old former union organiser and socialist is storming the UK with his refreshing take on politics, in his attempt to secure the party’s leadership.