Members of the Construction, Forestry Mining and Energy Union protested outside the offices of Fair Work Australia, where the Port Kembla Coal Terminal (PKCT) has applied to cancel its workplace agreement and put the workforce back onto the award.

This was part of a move to cut costs at the terminal amid a downturn in revenue and throughput as some of the terminal’s owner-clients had been choosing Newcastle port instead.

South Coast Labor Council secretary Arthur Rorris said recent lockouts at PKCT were the “ugliest” thing an employer could do to its workforce.

“It’s an abuse of the power imbalance in that workplace,” he said. “They usually do it with a strategy in mind to de-unionise.

“They want to get them out the door, locked out, they want to terminate the agreement, and then they want to sack these workers.

“If they want to try it on, we’re happy they’ve chosen Port Kembla. Because they will get a fight in Port Kembla and they will not win.”

The sentiment was echoed by Australian Council of Trade Unions Secretary Sally McManus, who said industrial laws were “broken” if they allowed agreements to be terminated to cut costs.

“We’re seeing the spread of casualisation, the spread of labour hire, the spread of temporary work visas, the spread of ABNs, the spread of the gig economy,” she said.

“This is taking away our Australian way of life of having a good steady job, a job you can rely on.

“As Arthur said, they’ve picked on the wrong people. They’ve picked on the one region of Australia with the highest unionisation levels, and that’s the Illawarra region. They’ve picked the wrong enemy.”

PKCT operations manager John Gorman said the company was ready to bargain in good faith.

“An agreement must be reached immediately to ensure that we can operate and deliver essential export services to the coal industry in New South Wales,” he said.

“PKCT’s current EA offer is generous, fair and reasonable. Management continues to work with and support employees to inform them about the reality of the business and remains ready to discuss the benefits of the packaged offer anytime.

“The company remains committed to bargaining in good faith and needs to reach an agreement as soon as possible.”

Federal Opposition MPs Sharon Bird and Stephen Jones said in a joint statement that Labor policy was to prevent employers taking the “nuclear option” of terminating agreements.

“Terminating your agreement means slashing your pay and conditions,” they said. “It is not on.”