Hutchison Port Dispute: Workers continue with their protest defying calls to return

As industrial disputes continue for a fifth day, workers at a port in Sydney say that they will remain in their position until the problem is solved.

Last Friday, Hutchison Port’s workers started with their demonstrations at various ports in Sydney and Melbourne after the company informed sacking of 100 workers via email.

The Fair Work Commission ordered the protests to cease after it found out that Maritime Union of Australia was behind the industrial campaign at Monday night. However, the union asserted it was only supporting individual workers' decisions and not orchestrating the action.

Workers have said they will continue with their ongoing protest outside Port Botany with as many as 200 people gathering on Tuesday morning. It has been reported that people who have been gathering also include workers from Newcastle and a group of retired Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy unionists.

Paul McAleer of the Maritime Union of Australia assured the workers that they have full public support. "This company knows what they've done," he said.

He asserted that the company was sure of their wrongdoing just like the vast majority of the Australian community. "We've seen it all through the media,” he added. He said none of the workers in Australia deserved to get sacked only by an email and that too at the middle of a night.

According to ABC , union leaders have confirmed that port of Brisbane has almost stopped functioning as only three workers have turned up to work.

Bob Carnegie from the MUA's Queensland branch said the workers have called off the picket line but wouldn’t stop with their ongoing protest. He said the workers would get their full support as they have been wronged. “We're just going to wait it out, fight it out," he said.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Anna Booth said she was confident enough and has enough proof to extend the interim order banning industrial action to include the MUA. She insisted that the union should not misuse their leadership and instead show solidarity with the commission's ruling. She also urged the union to consider the impacts of the protest on the economy of the company.

It was also reported that workers, who were willing to resume their work, were pressured by the union to continue not working. However, on the other hand, MUA's assistant national secretary, Warren Smith, rejected claims of orchestrating the protest. He accused the shipping company itself of making up the claims.

He said all the allegations were false and were made up by some of the employees of the company. He assured that the union was abiding by the commission’s order by involving itself in industrial action but would not hesitate to extend their support to the workers.

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