New Zealand maritime workers back Australian tug crews in Svitzer dispute

The Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and is back­ing Aus­trali­an mari­time crews facing a lock out from their mul­tina­tion­al cor­por­ate employ­er.

The entire Aus­trali­an seago­ing work­force of Svitzer Tow­age is being locked out from Fri­day 18 Novem­ber, which will res­ult in major dis­rup­tions in the sup­ply chain.

Svitzer is a fully owned sub­si­di­ary of mul­tina­tion­al ship­ping con­glom­er­ate AP Moller Maersk and receive fed­er­al fund­ing for provid­ing essen­tial tow­age ser­vices in major Aus­trali­an ports.

Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Craig Har­ris­on says New Zea­l­and mari­time work­ers are fol­low­ing the situ­ation closely and had offered sup­port and solid­ar­ity to affected crew mem­bers in Aus­tralia.

He says Aus­trali­an man­age­ment are attempt­ing claw­backs of wages, redu­cing job secur­ity, and under­min­ing safety stand­ards, for their Aus­trali­an tug crews.

“These tug crews do an amaz­ing job, includ­ing the res­cue of ships in dan­ger­ous con­di­tions, such as the stricken Port­land Bay in July this year.”

Mr Har­ris­on noted Svitzer’s Dan­ish par­ent com­pany is expec­ted to deliv­er more than $30 bil­lion in profit to its share­hold­ers this year, after achiev­ing a record profit last year of $21 bil­lion as they benefited from unpre­ced­en­ted ship­ping prices dur­ing the pan­dem­ic.

He says the Mari­time Uni­on is extend­ing its sup­port to the three Aus­trali­an uni­ons involved in the dis­pute – the Mari­time Uni­on of Aus­tralia (MUA), the Aus­trali­an Insti­tute of Mar­ine and Power Engin­eers (AIMPE), and the Aus­trali­an Mar­ine Officers Uni­on (AMOU).

Trans­port uni­ons from around the world are cur­rently meet­ing in Zagreb, Croa­tia, and will be form­ing a united glob­al response to the actions of Svitzer.