Bermuda Triangle

The last Australian flagged tanker sailed under the Derwent Bridge into Hobart at dusk on Saturday July 8. There awaiting its crew was a small group of media and union officials. That night one score and six brave seafarers would decide to take a stand.

The Australian coastline was beginning to resemble the Bermuda Triangle. Ships were disappearing at an alarming rate. In the 10 years since the Howard Government came to power, on average two Australian flagged vessels were being lost every year. The fleet had shrunk from 79 to 52.

But there was no mystery where they were disappearing. Every ship lost went offshore, the majority into flag of convenience tax havens. Some were recrewed with overseas labour and brought back onto the coast under another name, replacing Australian jobs and ships on the domestic coastal trade.

But outside the Maritime Union of Australia and the shrinking circle of Australian seafarers and shipowners, no one seemed to notice. Or care.

The MUA has campaigned relentlessly against the Howard Government's anti-shipping policies. A series of disputes including the River Yarra was followed by a High Court challenge by the maritime unions and long and expensive legal action to get Australian working conditions aboard permit vessels. The latest struggle saw the MUA members crewing the 9,939-dwt chemical bulk carrier tolt Australia take a stand.

"When we heard the ship which had been our home and workplace for 20 years was about to go and Australian jobs were going to foreign workers on Third World wages, we decided we just had to do something," said Chief IR Roy Muir. "We couldn't just silently walk down the gangway and watch it sail away. We voted to take a stand. Someone had to make people take notice; to understand what this government was doing to Australian jobs and Australian ships."

When the Stolt docked union officials Mick Wickham and Warren Smith went up to the gangway to notify the crew that overnight talks between the company and the union had broken down following National Secretary Paddy Crumlin flying to Rotterdam with the ITF to meet with senior company executives.

The matter went to a vote and the crew were unanimous. The ship was not going anywhere. They would refuse to sail. They would refuse to load. The MUA crew then drafted the following statement:

"We as the crew of this Australian flagged vessel, have decided that we must take a stand against the massive injustices that the Howard Government has inflicted upon Australian workers."

And so 18 Australian seafarers decided to lay their livelihoods on the line, not only putting their jobs at risk, but potentially their freedom. Under the Howard Government's new industrial relations laws the civil protest exposed them to massive personal fines, even prison.

"We were prepared to do whatever was necessary," said Muir. "Get fined. Go to prison. Whatever it took."

Stolt had registered only one vessel in Australia. But when the Norwegian based company said the government was giving permits for foreign ships to take cargo it had shipped down the coast for a decade it decided to cut its losses and run. They also said at 20 years the vessel was too old and become unsuitable for the trade with changes to manufacturing of certain products leaving Australia.

Two months earlier on May 10 the MV Stolt sailed into Townsville only to find the government had bent the loopholes under the Navigation Act even further. Despite being in port, available and suitable to take a cargo of molasses, the Department of Transport and Regional Services had awarded a permit to the Panamanian flag of convenience vessel Golden Yuki to ship the cargo of molasses from CSR. Simply because it was cheaper.

The MV Stolt Australia was turned away and sailed on ballast back down the coast. The incident enraged both the union and company leading to questions being raised in Senate sub-committees by the ALP over the vandalism this permit system was visiting on the industry.

Stolt estimated they lost 11 shipments to FoC vessels since June 2005 amounting to around $1.7million. Each time government officials had made various excuses for giving the work to a foreign vessel. But CSR, the shipper of the cargo, was more forthright saying they refused to pay Australian rates. Union enquiries revealed that the department had introduced a new criterion for determining the suitability of issuing a Single Voyage Permit to a foreign operator -- the economics of the voyage itself.

Nearly one third of all coastal cargo (measured in tonne/kilometres) and nearly 25 per cent of all coastal cargo (measured in tonnes) are now carried by foreign flagged vessels as a result of the government's administration of the Coastal Permit Guidelines. This is up from under 10 per cent in the late nineties, according to the Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics.

Initially the company considered taking the matter to court, while the union lobbied in parliament. But in July they notified the union the ship would go.

National Secretary Paddy Crumlin and ITF representative Steve Cotton met with Stolt at its European offices in Rotterdam, with the company saying they were being placed in an impossible commercial position by the changing Australian circumstances. The National Secretary and the ITF asked the company to reconsider replacing the Australian crew with Filipinos and flagging out to the Caribbean tax haven of Caymen Island when it arrived in Hobart. It would then carry the cargo of sulphuric acid around the coast to Port Hedland before sailing to Singapore where it was to go into dry dock.

The union enlisted ITF support abroad and ACTU support at home. Stolt had an international fleet. It also had other chemical tankers in the Asian region it could use to carry Australian coastal cargoes under permit with overseas crew along with other competing specialised product shipping companies.

The national secretary cut short his ITF work in Europe and flew back to Australia. Intense meetings were held towards the end of the week as the ship made its last journey down the coast. But the company refused the union request to keep the Stolt Australiaflying the Australian flag another six months to allow time to examine the state of the trade and the government abuse of the permit system

Only the crew protest would put Australian shipping and Australian seafaring jobs on the public stage:

"Union outcry at jobs overboard" The Sunday Tasmanian declared on June 9:

"The 18 crew of the 9,939 dwt chemical bulk carrier Stolt Australia were put "off pay" on Sunday after the ship tied up in the Derwent River at the Zinifex zinc smelter and the crew refused to move a cargo of acid.

The ship was due to sail for Port Hedland at 8.30am but at 10am the crew said they would not be leaving yet. One shift of 18 crew remained inside the smelter area and members of the other shift chained themselves outside the gate."

MUA crew publicly announced they would not load 9000 tonnes of sulphuric acid as concerns for the safety of future toxic cargoes carried under the Flag of Convenience system. Both to the environment and national security.

They also repainted the ship's Stolt Australia name and registry to read Stolt TAX HAVEN.

That Sunday night the story ran on all major television networks and ABC Radio. By Monday news of the protest hit the national press.

"Crew occupy ship in sackings protest" said The Sydney Morning Herald: "A coastal tanker's crew occupied their ship in Hobart last night to stave off their sacking as a new front opened in the national industrial relations battle."

"Crew occupy ship in sackings' protest" reported The Melbourne Age: "A tanker crew occupied its ship in Hobart last night to stave off sackings as a new front opens in the national industrial relations battle."

"Dispute over foreign crew strands ship" saidThe Australian, while The Hobart Mercury reported "Seamen's mission to keep their jobs".

The crew of Stolt Australia stood firm in their refusal to load the volatile cargo, raising concerns for the safety of future toxic cargoes in Australian waters being handled by poorly trained overseas seafarers.

The tanker carries fuels, acids and other "High Consequence Dangerous Goods" in and out of Australian port cities, the crew pointed out. Stolt should commit to the employment of skilled experienced and safe Australian seafarers - seafarers who have agreed to intensive background checks from the Immigration Department, the Australian Federal Police and ASIO in the name of maritime security, the defence of our critical maritime infrastructure and the defense of our country.

And while the crew conceded to load sulphuric acid from the Zinifex zinc smelter onto the vessel on Monday to allow the smelter to continue operating and save Australian workers at the plant being stood down, they still steadfastly refused to sail the vessel until all their concerns were addressed.

Meanwhile the company sought orders against the union and the crew in the Commission. But Maritime Union lawyers successfully had the matter held over until the following day when crew members were targeted individually and all action was dropped against the union.

After appeal by ACTU executive, the national secretary and Stolt delegate Barry Clapson Opposition leader Kim Beazley pledged to the ACTU executive and the MUA that a Labor Government would defend Australian shipping and the jobs of Australian seafarers

The Labor leader wrote to the crew of Stolt Australia promising to enforce the Navigation Act and restrict foreign vessels carrying Australian coastal cargo. He also promised to rip up the extreme laws penalising workers with fines and prison for protecting their jobs.

After unanimously passing a resolution in support of the crew and Australian shipping ACTU Executive then broke for lunch to join an estimated 150 supporters of the Stolt Australia crew rallying outside the company's Queens Rd office.

The resolution read as follows:

Calls on all affiliates to support his campaign against the introduction by the Howard Government of guest labour regulations and other national standards form flag of convenience states developing nations into this critical and sensitive Australian industry.

The rally in support of Australian shipping heard from ACTU President Sharan Burrow, MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin, AWU National Secretary Bill Shorten, Victoria Trades Hall Council President Peter Marshall, RTBU State Secretary Trevor Dobbyn, MUA Branch Secretary Kevin Bracken and Stolt crew member IR Barry Clapson.

"We need to fight on for Australian workers' rights and that's what we're going to do," said Barry.

Speakers noted the crew's courageous stand in the face of hefty fines under the new Howard Government IR regime.

A delegation then delivered a resolution from the ACTU executive to the company. The resolution noted the importance of the Navigation Act in protecting Australian sea and land transport from social dumping. The resolution also attacked the abuse of the single voyage permit system allowing overseas labour on flag of convenience ships to pose a security and environmental threat to the nation as well as threat to Australian jobs and working conditions. It called on all parties to enter negotiations.

The ACTU further resolved to campaign against any Australian company using permit vessels at the expense of Australian crews.

"The workers themselves have showed their determination to stay on because they believe it's a civil rights issue," said National Secretary Paddy Crumlin.

Late that afternoon the Commission ordered crew back to work by 5pm (AEST) and banned further industrial action for a month. Failure to comply exposed the each MUA member to a $6,000 fine or up to 12 months' prison.

But before the notices could be served on the crew, National Secretary Paddy Crumlin brokered a meeting with Stolt CEO Peter Beekman, the union and the ACTU, represented by Sharan Burrow. By morning an in principle settlement was reached.

While the ACTU union and company worked on the final details, the crew waited on board the vessel for Assistant National Secretary Mick Doleman to fly into Hobart and put the terms to the members. The agreement committed the company to a replacement vessel for Stolt Australia, the dropping of all legal action against the crew and guaranteeing them all other jobs in the industry. It also committed the company to joining the union in finding a domestic market for a suitable replacement vessel on the coast in recognition of the changing nature of the trade to clean petroleum products requiring an inert gas system.

That night the crew sailed for Port Hedland and on to Singapore.

For the time being there would be one less Australian ship on the coast. But the MUA and the Stolt crew's one aim - to make Australia stop and listen - had been a success.

"The union will continue to fight for our right to work in our own country," said National Secretary Paddy Crumlin. "The individual crew members aboard the Stolt showed the courage and determination seafarers can show to protect their democratic rights against a cynical and ruthless government."

The company too was open to replacing the vessel. But like the IR regime, the foreign shipping regime and Australia's Bermuda Triangle, will only go for good with the Howard Government at the next election.

"On behalf of the Union, I would like to congratulate the members on the Stolt Australia," said Assistant National Secretary Mick Doleman who co-ordinated the Stolt campaign. "Including those who (in their own time and leave) made their way to Hobart to stand shoulder to shoulder with their shipmates in this dispute and clearly displayed an example of what has made this union the great union it is, respected nationally and internationally for its preparedness to struggle around issues of importance and principle.

"The differences in the next federal election between the ALP and the Howard Government are clearer cut than ever before -- Workers' rights or no workers rights. Collective agreements or individual contracts. And now the right to work in an Australian shipping industry or its continued demise," said Paddy Crumlin.

A short film on the Stolt Stand by MUA idol Viron Papadopoulos is available from the union rooms