Strike avoided as union agrees EBA
Planned industrial action by the Australian Institute of Marine Engineers has been averted after it was able to conclude an enterprise bargaining agreement with the company that operates tugs in the Hedland harbour.
Two strikes had already been narrowly avoided, due to intervention from the Fair Work Commission at the last minute, and a third one was scheduled for this Saturday.
The action threatened to shut down the harbour, potentially costing millions of dollars due to stalled exports.
But Teekay Shipping issued a press release earlier today saying it was pleased to confirm an agreement with AIMPE had been reached.
"The notice of industrial action at Port Hedland on Saturday, November 22 has been withdrawn," it said.
"The AIMPE have endorsed the proposed enterprise agreement, which will be provided to the engineers for their review and vote to approve it. Voting will begin on Friday, November 28 and close on Monday, December 1.
"Assuming the agreement is approved, Teekay will apply to the Fair Work Commission for approval under the Fair Work Act 2009."
Sticking points in the debate included fatigue from working long hours, dry docking and emergency maintenance allowance.
AIMPE assistant federal secretary Martin Byrne said it had been a tough period of negotiation, but the union was "very pleased" with the outcome.
"Some of the things are very specific to the engineers and we feel it's important for us to get some of those things back, like dry docking for instance," he said.
"It's a major concern of marine engineers to make sure that dry docking goes well and the conditions were abolished, from our point of view, without thinking about the consequences of it.
"The same goes for emergency maintenance, when a tug breaks down there's a lot of pressure on, everyone wants the tug to be back in service as soon as possible and it often fall onto the engineers to get their hands dirty and make sure it's fixed."
