Shipping stoppage over as DP World strikes deal

The months of industrial action and delays across Australia’s sea freight terminals has come to an end. 

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and DP World yesterday reached an in-principle agreement and the union has withdrawn all industrial action. 

The four-year deal, which sees MUA workers get an anticipated four-year 23% pay rise, was announced at the conclusion of three days of facilitated negotiations in Sydney before the Fair Work Commission. 

The deal is subject to endorsement by the MUA membership employed at DP World in Australia and replaces an earlier agreement that expired in September 2023. 

“The past fortnight has shown how quickly a fair and sustainable deal can be resolved once both the workforce and the employer are fully engaged in the negotiation process,” the union’s Assistant National Secretary, Adrian Evans, said. 

Meanwhile, the Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC) had been calling for action to address the significant impacts to the industry being caused by the dispute. 

AMIC Chief Executive Officer Patrick Hutchinson said that Australia exported $15 billion of beef, lamb and goatmeat to more than 100 markets in FY23, adding that “Cross-border trade underpins the employment of hundreds of thousands of people across the red meat supply chain and provides the economic lifeblood of Australia’s rural farming communities”.  

An AMIC member survey revealed that exporters had been needing to consistently remove containers from terminals due to over month-long delays at ports, resulting in shelf-life expirations for chilled meat consignments. 

Meat processing and exporting businesses were also experiencing excess inventory due to being unable to load out product caused by vessel omissions and delays caused by the industrial action. 

They were also suffering from significant additional costs associated with the disruptions and logistics. 

Lack of availability of imported inputs was also harming operations, leading to potential manufacturing shutdowns. 

“This situation is creating disruption up and down the supply chain and compounding other stresses to global shipping, such as the Red Sea shipping crisis, ultimately resulting in significant impacts to the trade operations of Australian meat and smallgoods processors,” he said.