Wharfies fire first salvo in fight for robo-dock
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Wharfies will stop work for four hours at the Port of Melbourne next week as the first salvo in what is being pitched as a battle between old-school industrial practices and 21st century technology.
The Maritime Union of Australia has given the automated Victoria International Container Terminals (VICT) eight days’ notice for its half-shift stoppage covering 128 members from 4pm to 8pm on Tuesday, February 16.
Unions previously blocked the Webb Dock terminal for two and half weeks in 2017.
Arsineh Houspian
The protected strike is the first industrial action undertaken at VICT, which the union views as an existential threat due it having the only non-MUA agreement in the stevedoring sector.