By Tony Iltis
HOBART — On November 14, as tenders closed for the privatisation of the vehicular ferry that provides the only link between Bruny Island and mainland Tasmania, a strike and picket by ferry workers ended its seventh day.
Nine companies have put in bids for the service.
Pauline Shelley, Tasmanian branch secretary of the Australian Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union (ALHMWU) told Green Left that the strike was caused by the government's "partnership with the private sector to give away the people's assets".
Ferry workers were offered termination payments as low as $3000, and only $5000 was offered to workers with over 15 years' service. Despite this, the government has demonised the workers as greedy, describing the payments as "one of the most generous offers ever".
Shelley said that a qualified engineer earns only $400-500 a week despite 12 hour shifts and 365 days a year operation.
The ferry terminal at Kettering and the two Bruny ferries are held by the picketers. The government has chartered ferries that normally serve Flinders Island and berthed them at other ports, such as Woodbridge and Electrona. The union has used roving pickets to meet these scab ferries wherever they attempt to berth.
During the first six days of the strike, only 10 crossings were made. Normally the service runs every couple of hours. On November 13, a scab ferry spent seven hours cruising up and down the Derwent looking for an unpicketed port at which to berth.
The Department of Transport has been telling prospective travellers that the ferry service is running as normal and letting them find out that it is not when they reach the picket line.
This has failed to work. Both truck drivers and tourists have refused to use the scab ferry and voluntarily turned back from Kettering. Furthermore, Bruny Island residents have held demonstrations in support of the strike.
There was even a protest in solidarity by island residents on board one of the scab ferries!
The government has also used physical force against the strike, with two shifts of 25 police on permanent duty, plus 20 government officials. Almost all the ferry crews have been arrested, including both vessels' skippers, a retired skipper with 20 years' service and a retired engineer with 40 years' service.
Several union officials, including Shelley, have also been arrested. Her bail conditions ban her from returning to Woodbridge. The ALHMWU estimates that the government has been spending $50,000-100,000 a day attempting to break the strike.
The government has indicated that it may be willing to offer what Shelley described as "a golden carrot", a more generous redundancy offer to the ferry workers. She said that while this would be a victory, "our guys want to fight on" because the strike is for the principle of halting the give-away of public assets.