Trans-Tasman Maritime Union Federation Ratified: A New Era of Unity for Maritime Workers

The Mari­time Uni­on of Aus­tralia (MUA) and the Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and (MUNZ) have form­ally rat­i­fied a Trans-Tas­man Fed­er­a­tion that unites mari­time work­ers across Aus­tralia and New Zea­l­and in a single, coordin­ated indus­tri­al and polit­ic­al force.

The rat­i­fic­a­tion by the MUNZ Nation­al Coun­cil fol­lows res­ol­u­tions passed at the MUA Quad­ren­ni­al Nation­al Con­fer­ence. It marks a qual­it­at­ively new and high­er level of inter­na­tion­al cooper­a­tion, build­ing on gen­er­a­tions of shared struggle and on the most recent Memor­andum of Agree­ment endorsed at the highest levels of both uni­ons.

MUNZ Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Carl Find­lay said the chal­lenges faced by a dock­er in Taur­anga closely resemble those faced in Port Bot­any.

“This fed­er­a­tion cre­ates the frame­work for coordin­ated cam­paign­ing, shared resources and joint action.”

MUA Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Paddy Crum­lin says the Fed­er­a­tion aligns both uni­ons organ­isa­tion­ally with inter­na­tion­al mod­els such as the ILWU, ILA and the Sea­farers Inter­na­tion­al Uni­on.

“This will put us in the strongest pos­sible pos­i­tion to tackle mul­tina­tion­als head on in both coun­tries,” Crum­lin added.

MUA Deputy Nation­al Sec­ret­ary, War­ren Smith, who has led the agree­ment-mak­ing pro­cess for the Aus­trali­an con­tin­gent, said the new unity sends a clear sig­nal to employ­ers.

“Any struggle or attack on either uni­on will be met with the full, united force of mari­time work­ers across both coun­tries. Mari­time work­ers will stand togeth­er whenev­er jobs, con­di­tions or rights are threatened,” Smith says.

The agree­ment provides for joint par­ti­cip­a­tion in each union’s struc­tures, includ­ing nation­al coun­cils and con­fer­ences, and estab­lishes an inter­na­tion­al exec­ut­ive.

The arrange­ment pre­serves the exist­ing rules of each uni­on while adding shared capa­city, deep­er cooper­a­tion and coordin­ated industry engage­ment.

Fed­er­a­tion Pri­or­it­ies and Com­mit­ments

The Fed­er­a­tion will deliv­er coordin­ated cam­paigns, bar­gain­ing sup­port and mutu­al solid­ar­ity across ports and mari­time work­places. Shared resources will bol­ster the abil­ity of both uni­ons to con­front cross-bor­der threats like auto­ma­tion, out­sourcing and attempts to under­mine crew­ing stand­ards.

Mem­bers engaged in indus­tri­al dis­putes will have access to rap­id leg­al, fin­an­cial and organ­ising sup­port, regard­less of which side of the Tas­man they work on.

A major pri­or­ity is a vig­or­ous cam­paign for cab­ot­age and for trans-Tas­man seago­ing trade routes to be crewed by Aus­trali­an and New Zea­l­and sea­farers.

The Fed­er­a­tion will also advance joint work on First Nations struggles, trade uni­on edu­ca­tion, renew­able indus­tries and increased diversity across the mari­time sec­tor so that the work­force reflects the gender and cul­tur­al makeup of the broad­er com­munity.

DP World and Holcim Under Scru­tiny

The form­a­tion of the Fed­er­a­tion comes as work­ers in both coun­tries face escal­at­ing chal­lenges from mul­tina­tion­al oper­at­ors.

In Aus­tralia, DP World con­tin­ues to push an auto­ma­tion agenda that has been shown to be less safe, reduce pro­ductiv­ity and restrict through­put.

In New Zea­l­and, DP World has attemp­ted to expand its foot­print through privat­ised entry into steve­doring mar­kets.

At the same time, Holcim – oper­at­ing with DP World’s sub­si­di­ary NovaAl­goma Cement Car­ri­ers (NACC) – is attempt­ing to replace loc­al sea­farers with for­eign-flagged crews, under­min­ing jobs, safety stand­ards and long-held crew­ing arrange­ments.

These coordin­ated attacks on mari­time work­ers under­score the import­ance of the Fed­er­a­tion. By unit­ing their organ­isa­tion­al strength, the MUA and MUNZ will ensure that mul­tina­tion­al cor­por­a­tions can­not play one nation­al work­force off against the oth­er.

The Fed­er­a­tion will sup­port res­ist­ance to any attempt to out­source jobs, impose unsafe auto­ma­tion, or erode the rights and con­di­tions of mari­time work­ers.

A United Defence of Mari­time Com­munit­ies

“Recent clashes with steve­dores and ship­ping com­pan­ies have demon­strated that mari­time work­ers must increas­ingly defend pay, job secur­ity and safe work­ing con­di­tions. The Trans-Tas­man Fed­er­a­tion con­sol­id­ates the indus­tri­al power and social solid­ar­ity of mari­time com­munit­ies on both sides of the Tas­man so that these fights can be taken on in a coordin­ated and effect­ive man­ner,” says War­ren Smith.

“This fed­er­a­tion is a defence of mari­time com­munit­ies,” he says. “Attempts to cut labour costs, impose auto­ma­tion without agree­ment or replace loc­al crews will be met with coordin­ated res­ist­ance across both coun­tries.”

Mr Find­lay says the uni­ons will always seek con­struct­ive engage­ment with employ­ers, but unity will remain their greatest strength.

“Where employ­ers are unreas­on­able or unprin­cipled, we will stand up and fight, togeth­er, for the best pos­sible out­comes for mari­time work­ers.”