18th November, 2022
The fair Work Commission has advised that the tugboat lockout will not be proceeding Friday 18th November. This allows industry to return to normal shipping movements.
Whilst the Fair Work Commission has made this decision, the underlying issue between Svitzer and the MUA remains unresolved, further details to follow.
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Tug boat lock out – Portside chaos expected
15th November, 2022
An ongoing dispute between Maersk owned Svitzer and the Maritime Workers Union (MUA) is set to escalate this Friday. Svitzer has given notice of an indefinite lockout from Friday to all harbour towage employees covered under its 2016 National Towage Enterprise Agreement and their union representatives. Both parties have not been able to come to a new workplace agreement since 2019.
Svitzer are Australia’s largest tugboat operator, managing services in 17 key ports.
Svitzer management advises it has been left with no option but to respond to the damaging industrial action underway by the union with over 2000 hours of stoppages having already taken place.
For Australian importers and exporters there is never a good time for such actions, however the timing into Christmas will no doubt cause chaos in the supply chain.
We will monitor this situation very closely and ensure that all customers are made aware of any impact to their important shipments.
