THE Australian Maritime Officers Union will be walking off the job this weekend as part of a pay dispute with the Cook government.
Members of the AMOU, including vessel service officers and small craft personnel, are planning the industrial action from 5.30am on Sunday, August 18.
Ships will not be able to enter or exit the port for the duration of the strike, which will affect both the inner port at Fremantle and outer port in Kwinana.
The AMOU has been in a pay dispute with the state government since December last year, and claim workers operating out of Fremantle port are being paid a lower base rate than their counterparts in other government-operated ports in WA.
AMOU industrial officer Glenn Walsh says negotiations with the Ports and government have been “fairly disappointing” as the union is not even requesting parity, just an incremental increase in base pay.
“If you were to compare Bunbury, Geraldton, or Pilbara ports, employees are getting paid substantially more for the base rate of pay,” Mr Walsh said.
“We’re seeking to bridge the gap between Fremantle and the rest of the counterparts throughout Western Australia, and our claims have actually been just short of that.
“In real terms, because of the state government wages policy that’s been in place for the last 10 years or so, these workers haven’t seen an actual increase in the base rate of pay at all, or very minimally.”
The AMOU is currently seeking “between $12,000 and $15,000” in base pay increases for vessel traffic services officers and “about $10,000” for small craft operators, which is still “well shy” of base pay at other WA ports.
Mr Walsh says the AMOU is “hoping” the state government and port authority will respond to its requests before the strike, but it’s been “radio silence” so far.
“We launched yesterday afternoon, and we haven’t heard back from either the state government or the port,” he said.
“Our members have been pretty patient so far.
“These guys are doing the same job as it happens in every other port, but for some reason, they are just languishing way behind their counterparts.”
Up to 50 union members are planning to strike on Sunday, but not all of them are scheduled to work, so only “about 20” will be walking off the job in protest.
“You’ve got these two really key and specialist roles in the port which are going to prevent any vessel movements from occurring for a 48-hour period,” Mr Walsh said.
“The vessels can’t move in and out of the port once, because the vessel traffic services officers are essentially the air traffic controllers of the maritime space.
“Also, in order to move larger vessels in and out of the port, you need marine pilots on board, and the pilot boat skipper is the taxi which takes the marine pilots out to the boat, so they’ve got no way of actually getting out to the vessels to get on them.
“Any ships that are already in and unloading the stevedoring can still continue, they can still load and unload ships.”
Fremantle Ports CEO Jodie Ransom said they’d been notified of the industrial action and were working to “minimise impacts to the community and customers” as a result.
by KATHERINE KRAAYVANGER