DO NOT SHARE OR SIGN - FOR INFORMATION ONLY: Sign the Letter: Solidarity with Australian tugboat workers
Kasper Friis Nilaus, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Svitzer
Towage subsidiary of gobal transport giant AP Moller Maersk, Svitzer Australia, is pushing to terminate its long-standing collective bargaining agreement with its entire Australian workforce. The consequences of this application are dire. Members of three maritime unions will be forced to live on the minimum legal pay and work under bare conditions – all while Svitzer enjoys unprecedented revenue on the back of its workforce.
Svitzer Australia has over 600 seagoing tug crew in Australia represented by three unions: the Maritime Union of Australia, the Australian Institute of Marine Power Engineers (AIMPE), and the Australian Maritime Officers Union (AMOU). These unions are taking industrial action and having a virtual town hall across all unions in an act of solidarity on Friday.
Our Australian comrades urgently need our support before Australia’s upcoming Fair Work Commission hearing permits Svitzer Australia to abandon workers and terminate the collective bargaining agreement.
We need to make Svitzer aware that they cannot get away with such predatory practices - the entire global trade union movement is watching.
Can you stand in solidarity with Australian tugboat workers and urge Svitzer management to come to the negotiating table?
Sponsored by
.png){kind=logo}
To:
Kasper Friis Nilaus, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Svitzer
From:
[Your Name]
In light of the upcoming hearing at Australia’s Fair Work Commission, the global trade union movement would like to remind Svitzer and its parent company AP Moller Maersk of its own commitment to supporting freedom of association and collective bargaining as stated in your Group’s Sustainability Report (2021):
“Constructive employee relations can only exist by respecting the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, which means actively engaging with trade unions, work councils, and/or other employee representative bodies.”
The termination of the 2016 Agreement with three unions, the Maritime Union of Australia, the Australian Institute of Marine Power Engineers (AIMPE), and the Australian Maritime Officers Union (AMOU), will result in Svitzer Australia employees receiving significant cuts to the pay and working conditions – Svitzer management must immediately come to the bargaining table before this happens.
Termination of this agreement will be detrimental to workers, but also to the company itself. Through the commitment and industriousness of its workforce, revenue for Svitzer “increased by USD 14m to USD 198m (USD 184m)" (Interim Report 2022), with significant harbour and terminal efforts by Svitzer Australia’s workforce.
The newly elected Albanese Federal Labor Government has publicly indicated that it plans to legislatively reform section 225 of the Fair Work Act, which provides termination of agreements provisions. Australian unions are not alone in discerning the injustice of Svitzer’s practices.
Together, ITF’s global affiliates demand that Svitzer cooperate with unions, respect their fundamental labour rights, and negotiate a new, national workplace agreement to provide fair pay, safety at work for all Australian tugboat workers, and the long-term job security that all workers deserve.
Signed in solidarity with transport unions around the world,