Dock strike as Patrick, MUA square up at Port

Industrial action returned to the docks at Port Kembla yesterday and further strikes are likely as a dispute continues between Patrick Stevedores and the Maritime Union of Australia.About 100 workers in the bulk and general loading operations took industrial action yesterday against the stevedoring company, with MUA members stopping work for 24 hours from 7.30am.The strike took place during a drawn-out enterprise bargaining dispute between the union and Patrick, and was part of a wave of industrial action at Patrick terminals around Australia.BlueScope's port operations are among those affected.Patrick took the matter to Fair Work Australia in a bid to introduce a cooling-off period and force an end to industrial action but late yesterday, the FWA ruled against the company.After the decision Patrick said it would "explore all relevant options to bring about a resolution".The MUA needs to give three days' notice before further protected strike action can be taken, and late yesterday a Patrick spokeswoman said no notice had yet been received of a further possible strike.MUA deputy branch secretary Scott Carter said the main issues in dispute were "safety, training and casualisation" and said workers had had enough of the company's stalling."It's come to a head ... the nego-tiations are going nowhere," he said. "We're not sure if they're just stalling for a wage pause - they've done that before at Port Kembla."He said there were men at Port Kembla who had been in the industry for "nine or 10 years" and are still employed as casuals."They're waiting by the phone, waiting by the SMS, to be contacted each day," he said.Patrick director Paul Garaty said he wants the MUA to return to the negotiating table, but the union's demands - including a $5000 bonus for workers who sign on to the new deal - were excessive."Patrick has consistently stated that we value the work our people do and rightly expect to pay competitive conditions of employment," he said."However, to agree to the MUA's excessive pay claims without any productivity offsets would only serve to undermine the company's ability to compete and deliver job security for its workers in the long term."He said the claims would increase costs in the bulk and general stevedoring section by nearly $100 million over three years.