Maritime union campaign briefs

MUA alleges sabotage

BRISBANE — Waterside workers who triumphantly returned to work at Patrick's
wharves at Hamilton and Fisherman Island on May 8 have alleged that the
non-union work force damaged facilities, including the boom of a crane.

Wharfies said lockers were broken into and Maritime Union members' belongings
removed. One MUA member told Green Left that the canteen at Fisherman
Island had been trashed by the security guards, who used it as a feeding
shed for their dogs.

Meanwhile, the National Farmers Federation has warned it still intends
to set up a non-union stevedoring operation in Brisbane in the future.

Tasmanian wharfies' jobs threatened

HOBART — Despite threats by Patrick Stevedores to close its Tasmanian
operations, all employees at Burnie and Bell Bay returned to work on May
8.

MUA Burnie port secretary Mick Wickham told Green Left that his
members loaded Discovery Bay, which sailed on May 8, and the Libra
Australia, which sailed on May 9.

Patrick spokesperson David Reid was quoted in the local media as saying
that after those ships were loaded, Patrick's Tasmanian operations would
cease.

Wickham told Green Left that in discussions with the administrators
of the "bankrupt" labour hire firms, he was assured that Patrick did
not have the authority to do that and the Tasmanian operations would remain
open for business with all MUA members re-employed.