Waterfront Dispute

1. Causes of the Patrick Stevedores Dispute
Waterfront reform has rebrinyed an issue which the Australian government has attempted to carry on in order to improve the capability of the importing and exportation of products in Australia. In 1998, waterfront reform became recognised as of topic significance as Australia witnessed of one of the most influential industrial conflicts in the nation’s history, the Patrick Stevedores Waterfront dispute. This conflict focused on modifying waterfront management, consequently affecting the entire workplace relations organization across Australia. The reluctance of both Patrick and the MUA to cooperate in negotiations on a wide range of issues is one of the main causes of the dispute. The main factors influencing the evolution of this dispute are related to wage demands and functional conditions (economic/financial), technological, and political matters:

Economic/financial
In the early 1990’s, productivity and efficiency became a matter of great importance for the Australian Stevedoring firm, Patrick Stevedores. The order identified that in order to attract ship owners and die hard in a competitive position, the firm must digest expenses (particularly labour costs), improve productivity, and reduce prices.



In order to chance upon these aims, Chris Corrigan (managing director of Patrick at the time) created redundancies, reduced overtime sanctions for permanent employees, and began hiring more than contract employees on a casual basis. Patrick also mean to implement these changes to wage and working conditions because a report by the Productivity Commission found that by cutting manning levels by 50% could dramatically improve productivity[i]. Furthermore, there was no audience with employees in adjustments made to management policies, which included an operation in Dubai to train non-union workers, and significant company restructuring. The MUA and ACTU did not object to the efforts by Corrigan to increase...If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com



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