Minister Burke is not much help for the DP Word Crisis

As noted in the latest update from FTA ( Freight Trade Alliance ), the ongoing battle continues. 

Latest updates and media are as follows direct from FTA:

Last week saw some interesting developments in the ongoing industrial dispute between DP world and the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA).

The press conference held by Tony Burke (Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) following his meeting with DP World on Thursday 18 January 2024 was consistent with ongoing message from the government that they will not intervene and it it up the employer and union to to negotiate in good faith.

This also aligns with the ruling from the Fair Work Commission before Christmas when they declined a request from DP World calling for a 90 day cooling off period with a direction to keep negotiating.

What was a surprise was the derogatory tone used by the Minister towards DP World saying:

• they should have put the same effort into negotiations as they had in their media campaign;
• referencing its foreign ownership and significant profits being obtained;
• comparing the difference in salaries to that offered by competitor Patrick;
• and a personal attack against Nicolaj Noes (Executive Vice President Oceania – APAC) referencing his previous role at Svitzer where last year he threatened lockout of all staff which would have closed all ports nationally.

Channel 7 News Tom Hartley compiled a story with clips from the Minister’s press release and reactions from leading industry bodies including Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) and the Australian Peak Shippers Association (APSA) reinforcing the message “we have both importers and exporters suffering from this” – recording available HERE.

FTA / APSA returned to Sky News on 19 January 2024 with a follow up extended interview on “First Edition” with Kenny Heatley – this provided a further opportunity to reinforce operational impacts and to again highlight that DP World is not like every other business – while they suffer the repercussions of Protected Industrial action in their own right, the severe impacts flow on to importers, exporters and logistics providers – recording available HERE.