97 workers sacked overnight by Hutchison Port Australia through text and email

As many as 97 employees were sacked by Hutchison Port in Sydney and Brisbane through an email sent at midnight. First they received a text message urging them to check the email, the content of which informed them that their posts had been made redundant and their services were no longer required. It was also said in the email that all their belongings would be couriered to them.

The message came as a shock to the sacked employees, who were least expecting a news such as this at midnight. Dozens of them formed a picket at Port Botany in Sydney. Workers who have not been sacked by the company also joined their sacked colleagues in the protest. The gates of the Hutchison were blocked by the guards and the trucks carrying deliverables were forced to turn back.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten extended his support by visiting the protesting workers at the Hutchison terminal. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the workers were told they would receive payment up to Aug. 16 but are not required to report to work any longer. By Friday afternoon, almost 200 of them joined the protest at the entrance to the container terminal of the company. Apart from the guards keeping the gates blocked, the police have also been keeping a close watch on the two groups.

Paul Keaton, deputy branch Secretary of the MUA Sydney branch, said almost 40 percent workers of Hutchison Port Australia workforce of 224 has been terminated overnight, of which, 57 workers are from Sydney and 40 from Brisbane. "We are going to be here until all our members, all our workers get justice," he said. "War on the waterfront.”

Craig Hancock, the crane driver team leader at the company, said that his family is yet to know about his termination. "I've got three kids and a wife and a mortgage," he said. "I don't know what we're going to do, like everybody, very sad."

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