Industry Landscape

The Australian shipping industry has undergone significant changes over the last 20 to 30 years. This is across the entire industry but particularly in regard to industrial issues in the industry.  While reforms have assisted the labour task to a point, there still remain issues of significantly higher operating costs for Australian operators, much of which can be attributed to high labour costs. This means that Australian operators seeking to compete with international operators face prohibitive labour cost barriers, which when combined with other aspects of the Australian shipping regulatory regime (registration and taxation interpretations) means Australian operators are unable to compete.

The landscape is not all doom and gloom though. In the last thirty years we have seen a shift from industry wide terms and conditions of employment to terms negotiated at an enterprise level. From about 1995 onwards, employment terms and conditions of employment have been negotiated at the enterprise level, with the protection, in many instances, of underlying maritime industry awards. This was regulated under the Workplace Relations Act 1996.

In 2009 the Workplace Relations Act 1996 was replaced by the Fair Work Act 2009 by the Labor Government. In the broader industrial relations context, this shifted negotiations from individual arrangements, which were a hallmark of the Howard Coalition Government, to collective negotiations, giving unions a foothold in negotiations.

With three maritime unions – the Australian Institute of Marine & Power Engineers, the Australian Maritime Officers Union and the Maritime Union of Australia  each representing the interests of their members, employers in the maritime industry encounter demarcation disputes whilst trying to ensuring smooth running of their operations. In the industrial context to ensure the long term viability of Australian shipping employers and unions alike will need to find an appropriate middle ground on industrial issues.