The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) organised a rally outside the Papua New Guinea Consulate on October 31 to protest the sacking of 1000 PNG dockworkers.
The sackings come after the awarding of a 25-year stevedoring contract covering PNG's main ports, to a notoriously anti-union Filipino company, International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI).
The sackings come after the awarding of a 25-year stevedoring contract covering PNG's main ports, to a notoriously anti-union Filipino company, International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI).
International Transport Federation (ITF) organiser Shane Reside told the rally that ICTSI had been carrying out similar union-busting activities in other countries.
A resolution passed by the MUA Sydney branch condemned ICTSI's treatment of PNG workers as "inhumane and disgusting".
"One Papua New Guinea Maritime Workers Industrial Union (PNGMTWU) worker provides for 20-40 family members. So sacking 1000 workers affects 40,000 lives who live in Third World conditions.
“We, the branch, resolve to support and campaign for PNGMTWU workers to be reinstated in their employment and have the working conditions that they deserve."
A copy of the resolution was delivered to the PNG Consulate.
