MUA members stage safety sit-in at Toll

More than 100 members and supporters of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) staged a spirited sit-in on 18 June at the Sydney offices of transport company Toll. The protest was called after the workplace death of MUA member Anthony Attard, who was killed on a Toll ship. It focused on the company’s role in blocking the adoption of a National Stevedoring Code of Practice (NSCOP).

The dozens of angry wharfies who occupied Toll’s inner-western Sydney office soon had the building echoing to their chants of “No more deaths on the waterfront!” and “Stop the death Toll!” Most of those present had just come from the MUA’s Bulk & General Conference, where they heard a harrowing report of the death and Toll’s callous actions afterwards.

Attard, a MUA member and father of three, was killed in Melbourne on 20 May while working aboard Toll’s roll-on/roll-off vessel Tasmanian Achiever. He was crushed to death by a Mafi trailer while helping to load heavy cargo onto the ship. In the weeks after the tragic incident, Toll had the very same trailer transferred to its replacement vessel Longstone and welded to the deck as a guide rail.

This occurred despite a unanimous vote by MUA members to have the trailer removed from all Toll ships and scrapped. After wharfies on the Longstone recognised the trailer, a number of them were physically sick at the sight of it. The MUA is now demanding the removal of the Mafi from this vessel.

The callousness of stevedoring companies does not end there. On the day of Attard’s funeral, the Australian Logistics Council, which includes Toll, Qube, Asciano/Patrick and DP World, called for the scrapping of the proposed NSCOP safety regulation. Such heartlessness is nothing new. In September 2012, just one day after the death of Newcastle wharfie Greg Fitzgibbon, and just days before a draft code of practice was to be agreed, major stevedoring companies rejected significant parts of the draft. It took a national day of action at the end of October to get the NSCOP process back on track.

Nine MUA members have been killed on the Australian waterfront since 2003. On average, wharfies are 14 times more likely to be killed on the job than other Australian workers. The MUA has been campaigning for a code of practice since 2007. It would not grant new rights to wharfies or the union, but would outline best practice methods that conform to laws already in place.

Nevertheless, stevedoring companies have continually tried to scuttle the NSCOP from the word go. Their opposition comes down to cost and an unwillingness to consult with workers.

In the face of continued company opposition, the MUA is promising to escalate the waterfront safety campaign. A serious campaign of industrial action is needed. The action that occurred after the workplace death of MUA member Steve Piper is a good example of what is required.

Piper’s death on 14 July 2010 triggered an immediate walk-off at his workplace, P&O Automotive and General Stevedoring (POAGS) at Melbourne’s Appleton Dock. This was quickly followed by a nationwide stoppage of all operations at POAGS (now known as Qube). Then on 23 July, a 24-hour stoppage shut down every wharf in the country. Hundreds attended nationwide memorial services for Piper.

This sort of determined action can win a National Stevedoring Code of Practice and a safer waterfront.

[For more information visit nscop4life.org.au and mua.org.au.]

Australian wharfies killed on the waterfront: 1990-2014

Barry Gifford, Darling Harbour, Sydney – June 1990

Brian Greaves, White Bay – September 1991

James Cairns, Trans Ocean Terminals, Melbourne – March, 1991

Rex Lowday, Geelong – August 1992

Roy Audet, Boyne Smelter Wharf, Gladstone – October 1992

Bryan Paterson, East Swanson Dock – September, 1997

Mick Carabott, East Swanson Dock, Melbourne – June 1998

Bryan Paterson, Melbourne – May 1999

Billy Dixon, Tasmania – July 1999

Jeff Grey, Appleton Dock – Melbourne, June 2003

Dean Robinson, Port Adelaide – June 2006

Peter Ross, Appleton Dock, Melbourne – January 2007

Bob Cumberlidge, Westernport – March 2007

Brad Gray, Brisbane – February 2010

Nick Fanos, Port Botany, Sydney – March 2010

Steve Piper, Appleton Dock, Melbourne – July 2010

Greg Fitzgibbon, Newcastle – September 2012

Anthony Attard, Melbourne – May 2014