The Maritime Union of Australia and thousands of its members around Australia rallied outside the offices of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) and its affiliates on 26 March to call on the business community to cease its campaign against waterfront safety reforms.
ACCI has intervened in the development of the national stevedoring code of practice (NSCOP), which followed a spate of deaths on the waterfront over the past 10 years. The NSCOP seeks to create a uniform national set of safety guidelines for stevedoring and is the result of several years’ collaboration between Safe Work Australia, the state regulators, the MUA and industry representatives.
MUA national secretary and ITF president Paddy Crumlin commented: “It's a disgrace that we are out having to argue that workers' lives and safety matter in the twenty-first century.
“The arguments from the employers' association that there shouldn't be consultation with workers on safety, that there shouldn't be laws just guidelines, is a nineteenth century way of viewing the workplace.
“Wharfies are fourteen times more likely to die at work than the average Australian worker - for employers to argue that we need to wind back the laws is both radical and absurd.”
