Australia's Newcastle Port Workers Plan Work Halt

Published May 10, 2013 9:42 AM by The Maritime Executive

Workers at the world's largest thermal coal port of Newcastle in Australia said they planned to suspend work for four hours next Wednesday to protest against a measure they fear could hit their working conditions and job security.

Market sources said they doubted the work stoppage would affect prices much, because of a global overhang of coal supplies.

"Even if they had one-day stoppages, it wouldn't matter," said one Sydney-based source.

About 220 workers at the facility operated by Port Waratah Coal Services (PWCS) will stop work to protest against what they say is a proposed work agreement that will erode working conditions and job security.

"Among a raft of conditions PWCS is trying to cut are the limitations around use of contractors that ensure they are used genuinely to meet ebbs and flows in demand rather than dislodging the permanent workforce," said Mick Forbes, secretary of the local branch of the Transport Workers' Union.

The PWCS, which expects to export around 110 million tonnes of coal this year, said it hoped to resolve the agreement and avoid the industrial action.

"We are hoping to resume negotiations on this enterprise agreement on Tuesday," a PWCS spokesman said on Friday, but could not say how far port operations would be affected by the work stoppage.

"We are working on some contingency plans, we would like to minimise disruptions in the coal chain."

Australia's Newcastle spot index rose to $87.76 per tonne on Thursday, up from $87.21 per tonne a week earlier, data from online trading platform globalCOAL showed.