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Australian seafarers fight to keep jobs

1 February 2008

Australian seafarers are embroiled in a dispute over management plans to replace their jobs with cheaper labour employed under a non-union agreement.

Gardline International, owners of the Triton, has informed 20 members of the ITF-affiliated Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) that their contracts will not be renewed when the vessel leaves Darwin port after maintenance work next week. Over the past 12 months, the Triton has been operating on an Australian government contract to provide offshore surveillance and apprehension of illegal fishing vessels and asylum seekers. The seafarers fear they will be replaced by UK workers, employed under a non-union agreement. Nine Australian seafarers on the Australian flagged vessel are currently staging an onboard sit-in.

MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin said: "It is outrageous that a vessel that has won a government contract to patrol Australia's water and protect our border security can dump their unionised workforce - all of whom have passed the nation’s highest security and customs clearance.”

Meanwhile the British ITF-affiliated maritime union Nautilus UK is urging Gardline, a UK company, to resolve the matter and warned it not to draw British seafarers into the dispute by seeking to use them in place of the Australian crew.

Assistant General Secretary Mark Dickinson said Gardline's action had met with “furious disbelief”. He pointed out that there had been no proper negotiations over the new agreement, which would provide for a five-year wage freeze and a 30 per cent reduction in leave.

Nautilus UK is also urging its members serving with Gardline to abide by the union’s standing policy by refusing to carry out any duty that is normally carried out by MUA members or take any action that could exacerbate the situation.

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