
Issue No 86		02 March 2001

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Unions

Lashing & Loathing at Patricks

Three years since one of the Howard Government's most infamous episodes, the Waterfront War, Zoe Reynolds discovers how casuals are now doing the doing the dirty work on the docks.

One in three stevedoring workers on the wharves is a supp or casual worker. At Patrick it's nearly one in two. Now a landmark Commission hearing requires employers in the metal industry to give regular casual workers permanent jobs after 6 months. And the union has again made permanency a priority ...

Lashing. Someone once compared it to going 13 rounds with Mike Tyson. Dodging boxes. The hook. Lifting iron bars. Dragging heavy gear from one end of a ship to the other. It can be heavy duty work. And hazardous. A hit on the head by a lashing bar and you're down.

This is the job of the Patrick supp - the casual wharfie. It's tough, dangerous work reserved for the predominately young, mostly male, casual workers who now make up around half the waterfront workforce.

It's hard and dirty work.

Sometimes you also get a go on the straddles or at general duties. But most of the time you crawl about on the container tops and the ship's deck fastening the boxes in place. Or undoing them. Six or seven people squeezed into a few squares trying to put the bars in. Tightening them. Sometimes, refrigerated units blowing hot air on you while the ships crew yell instructions in languages you don't understand.

The next day you're stiff and sore: "They told us we'd end up like Popeye, all biceps," said one supp. "But more of us end up with crook backs."

If the gear is rusted it's so much physically harder to use. And much more dangerous. There's grease on the metal deck and container tops. Add a bit of rain or early morning dew and it's hard work just staying on your feet. Some jobs takes you five stories high, 15 metres up.

Working at night there's hardly any light. You've got to look straight up when putting the bar on. Stuff gets in your eyes. Rust. Grit.

Accidents happen.

Blokes fall down the holes where the leads are run up to the reefers. A man gets hit on the head by a falling bar. Concussion.

The bonus system encourages some workers to cut corners. There've even been instances of lashing teams being ordered to follow the hook, containers swinging above their heads, twistlocks falling.

This is the life of a Patrick supp. Working unpredictable hours, at the beck and call of the boss. No guaranteed work. Head picking. Favourites.

You're on call 24 hours a day - no retainer. The call might come at 2am.You're sound asleep when the phone rings. "Come in, Jim. Now."

Day shift one day, night the next, then no work for a week. They chop and change you around so much. Trouble sleeping. After you do midnighters you could be awake the next three nights. It's like being permanently jet lagged. Makes you moody. Irritable. No social life. Over the years your mates get tired of asking you out. Even your partner gets jack of it.

Crook backs, insomnia, broken homes, no friends. Such are the pitfalls of being a supp.

But it's also a job that breeds mateship. You've got to keep your eyes open and your wits about you. Look after each other. You watch out for danger, warn each other. Stick by your workmates. Get organised.

And that is exactly what Patrick supps are now doing.

"Management thought the casuals they brought in after the dispute wouldn't want to join the union," said Deputy National Secretary Mick O'Leary. "But they have. And we are going to make sure they are well represented in the coming round of enterprise negotiations."

The new recruits are no fools.

"Patrick are making profits hand over fist," said one supp. "Corrigan boasts he's cut labour. There's actually no difference in the number of jobs. They've cut permanent jobs but increased casuals. That's why Lang Corp shares are up. It's blood money from us. Management cut back on safety and conditions. We're working like mad bastards. Look how dangerous the job is. The number of accidents. You don't have to go too far back to find the last fatality on the wharves."

Casual workers now make up 27 per cent of the Australian workforce. On the wharves it's 30 per cent - and that's not counting irregular supps. The union has 2,100 regular casuals on its books compared to 3,000 permanents and a total of 6,844 members. But at Patrick the rate is even higher - almost half the labour force with 605 supps out of a total MUA workforce of 1343.

Peaks and troughs in the maritime industry aside, the union thinks this is going too far. So do the supps. At a Sydney branch meeting in January they put permanent jobs down as their number one demand. And they are going to be able to put it to management face to face.

The Maritime Union is holding a conference for Patrick members on April 4 to prepare for the next round of EBA talks and elect rank and file representatives to the negotiating committee.

Supp delegates will be among them. And the issue of casualisation will be high on the agenda - especially in light of the recent landmark decision of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.

On December 29, 2000, the full bench - Justice Paul Munro, Senior Deputy President Colin Polites and Commissioner Peter Lawson - ruled in favour of a submission by the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union to improve the lot of casual workers.

The decision gives casuals in the metal industry a 25 per cent loading (up from 20 per cent), a minimum 4 hour shift (3 hours for part time workers) and the right to be made permanent after six months "regular and systematic" employment.

Deputy National Secretary Mick O'Leary calculates that a 5 per cent increase in the casual loading alone would translate as a pay rise of between $6 and $17 per shift for MUA supplementary workers.

"This would take away some of the economic incentive which drives employers to replace full time workers with casuals working full time," he said.

And the union has already introduced permanent part time work and guaranteed wage jobs to provide the industry with flexibility.

"We are absolutely determined to see the Commission decision flow on to our industry," said National Secretary Paddy Crumlin. "Permanency is a priority. We will be using the decision and everything else available to us to get more members permanent jobs."

The union's primary objective is to return the Patrick workforce to some sort of permanence, to stabilise business and to stabilise the lives of workers he told Lloyds List Daily Commercial News.

The National Secretary is on the ACTU executive, which this March will be discussing how unions can extend the Commission decision by mounting a series of test cases or through enterprise agreements.

The AMWU didn't run a test case, but a special case - one that doesn't automatically flow on to other awards. It may now have to be fought out industry by industry.

Unions must also grapple with escape routes already being touted by some employers.

NSW Employers' Federation CEO Garry Brack, told The Sydney Morning Herald the commission ruling would force companies towards more contract workers or encourage them to put people off before they work the six months.

Others, like Australian Industry Group CEO Bob Herbert recognise the ruling was long overdue: "There has been no adjustment to casual employment for 26 years. Certainly, there will be some murmurs among employers over the increased loading rates but, in reality, the AIRC ruling simply brings casuals to roughly the same pay and condition levels as their full-time colleagues." (SMH, January 1, 2001)

Despite strong opposition from employers and the federal government throughout the hearings, ("casual employment is an important tool for dealing with global competitive pressures") the Commission recognised that casual workers are disadvantaged by their lack of entitlements.

The bench also recognised that growing casualisation is undermining the role of awards as a safety net: "The notion of permanent casual employment, if not a contradiction in terms, detracts from the integrity of an award safety net in which standards for annual leave, paid public holidays, sick leave and personal leave are fundamentals," it said.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures 60 per cent of all casual workers have worked in the same job for more than a year and more than 20 per cent have worked in the same job for more than five years.

"Common sense says these workers are doing the work of permanent employees," said ACTU Secretary Greg Combet. "But because they are employed as casuals they enjoy none of the job certainty of permanent employees and are all too often denied access to the most basic entitlements like sick leave, annual leave, public holidays and redundancy payments."

And despite reassurances from the boss that their employment will be ongoing they find it almost impossible to get a loan from a bank.

The AMWU application to the Commission was on behalf of the Metal Trades Federation of Unions - an unregistered confederation of the AMWU and six other unions with membership covered by the Award (The Australian Workers Union, Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia, the Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, LASHING

Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia, the Australian Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union and the National Union of Workers).

The decision requires employers to notify regular casuals of their right to become permanent within four weeks of doing six months regular work.

Workers then have the option of becoming permanent or remaining casual. They also have the right to request permanency at any later time. Employers can not unreasonably refuse those wanting permanent positions.

The Commission also made a provisional decision that employers must notify all workers on hire whether they are casual and the likely number of hours they can expect each week, along with their pay rate and other details.

Meanwhile the AMWU was back in the Commission on February 1 after the parties went into conference. Workplace Express reports that the AI Group and AMWU were at odds over when the clock should start ticking on the six-month period before employees elect whether to convert to permanent employment.

The union argues that when the provision comes into force it should take into account prior service by casuals. But the AI Group says the six-month period for existing casuals should start from June 1.

The union and employer body also have different positions on how the facilitative provisions should apply. The AMWU is concerned about what it says will be a de-facto employer veto over conversion to permanent employment. It says that if, on engagement, an employer indicates there is no expectation of ongoing employment, they will then be able to avoid workers electing to go permanent after six months.

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  Issue 86 contents

Interview: Master of Opposition
Over the past five years, John Faulkner has turned the Senates Estimates structure into his own House of Pain. He explains the art of Opposition.

Politics: Beazley the Bridge Builder?
As the Howard Government flounders, Brett Evans looks at the challenges Kim Beazley faces as his hour of destiny approaches.

Unions: Lashing & Loathing at Patricks
Three years since one of the Howard Governmentï¿½s most infamous episodes, the Waterfront War, Zoe Reynolds discovers how casuals are now doing the doing the dirty work on the docks.

Legal: Workers Without Rights
Mark Morey outlines the legal status and (lack of) rights for foreigners in Australia on working visas.

International: Dispatch from the Dispossessed
Mahendra Chaudhry, Leader of the People's Coalition and the Fiji Labour Party comments on this weekï¿½s court decision.

Economics: Business Power and Mobility
The US election season makes it patently clear how Big Business is able to transform its financial resources into political power via campaigncontributions.

History: The Spoilers and the Split
The Movement, Groupers, the DLP and The Doc. All have been blamed in various ways for the ALP split in the 1950s, ensuring the ALP was kept out of federal government until 1972. Can One Nation return the favour?

Review: The New Hard Politics
Dennis Glover argues that policy has taken over from spin as the political battleground of the new century.

Satire: Bradman Latest: Family In Dramatic Court Action
The family of the late Sir Donald Bradman yesterday sought a restraining order against Prime Minister John Howard after it became apparent that he wants to be involved in every single detail of the The Don's funeral.

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