More jobs under threat on Sydney docks

SYDNEY -- Australian Stevedores, the company at the centre of last month's waterside dispute, was castigated by Industrial Relations Commission deputy president Simon Williams on March 18.

“It [AS] appears to have taken an attitude that industrial relations doesn't involve persons ... people have an absolute right to be treated like human beings”, Williams said.

The company, having eliminated through voluntary redundancies most of the 55 jobs it originally sought to destroy by selective dismissals, now wants to divest itself of another 37 workers. Maritime Union joint national secretary John Coombs says the company has not supplied the union with any details of its claimed loss in business, the alleged reason for seeking to reduce its work force.

At the IRC hearing, commissioner Williams recommended that an inquiry into the work requirements on the docks be established by the federal government. Williams noted that the company had hired nearly 100 casuals and that another 50 employees were working double shifts.

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