MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA
MEDIA RELEASE
TUESDAY 19 AUGUST
Automation and AI will sink waterfront productivity
The Maritime Union of Australia and workers at the four Dubai Ports World terminals across Australia have condemned local managers' notification of their plan to automate Australian container terminals. The proposal will come at the expense of hundreds of wharfies' jobs at the same time industry, government and the community come together to discuss productivity challenges throughout the economy.
Dubai Ports' automation project, on the company's admission, will not improve Australian waterfront productivity. It will place increased pressure on Australian supply chains, cause port blockages and negatively impact trucking companies and the community.
Port infrastructure sits at a critical strategic and social juncture and is essential to the daily needs of all Australian families.
In the meantime, the company has already raised prices for its landside charges and trucking access charges in anticipation of a project that will slow throughputs and further crunch Australia's domestic transport sector.
The only logical reason for the company's enthusiasm for a costly project that will slow them down is to eliminate labour costs and increase the company's already bloated $50 Billion profits. In Australia, these profits are shipped offshore to shareholders and the Dubai Royal family. DP World is an expert tax minimiser; the workers who it now seeks to sack are those within their business who make the greatest contribution to Australian treasury through annual income and payroll taxes.
DP World announced their automation plan after the recent completion of Enterprise Agreement negotiations, an omission which removes any capacity for the workforce to have a say or exercise any rights during bargaining to mitigate the proposal's impacts.
"Wharfies at Dubai Ports deserve better from this highly profitable company that pays next to no tax in Australia and our members have resolved to fight for as long as it takes to deliver outcomes acceptable to the workforce and consistent with the Australian community's economic and social interest," said MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin.
The MUA's position is that automation and artificial intelligence should only be introduced by agreement and where it has a community benefit.
"There is no business case for this project other than union busting and workforce elimination. The plan achieves no upsides for workers or the Australian economy," Crumlin said.
"Workers should not be thrown on the automation and AI scrapheap purely for the advantage of overseas shareholders or foreign governments with control of Australia's seaport infrastructure. Every time there's a public stoush on the waterfront, wharfies cop the blame, but the real cause has always been companies like Dubai Ports seeking to make obscene profits at the expense of their workers. In this case the whole industry and community will suffer because of Dubai Ports' obsession with profit over productivity," said Jake Field, the MUA's Assistant National Secretary.
"The MUA is calling for no job losses, no pay reductions and the introduction of AI and automation by agreement only," said Mr Field.
The DP World proposal comes at exactly the same time as these issues are front and centre in the community debate through the Albanese Government's Productivity Roundtable. DP World is placing their profitability above any social or community benefit and are openly challenging the Australian businesses and consumers who will be impacted by this plan.
For almost 30 years, wharfies have driven terminal productivity higher and higher as demonstrated by successive ACCC Container Monitoring Reports.
"We worked through the Patricks dispute, which was allegedly about productivity. Australian wharfies have always worked hard and we've driven productivity through the roof both at Patricks and throughout the industry," Mr Field said.
"This is an overseas company wanting to carve out more profits while reducing the productivity gains that Australian wharfies have consistently delivered. We are taking a stand on behalf of the Australian community who rely on effective and reliable container ports for their every daily need and whose cost of living will only suffer because of this proposal," Field added.
