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           Shipping Stevedoring Port Services Hydrocarbons Diving  Jul-Aug 2008        |
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Goebbels Inspired: Propaganda at its best
The first casualty in war is the truth. Or so the adage goes.Ever since news of the 'secret' combat plan to lay siege to the waterfront and engage the Maritime Union in battle, was leaked, the Government has been bombarding the media with propaganda. Productivity on the wharves has mysteriously plummeted ? Or so the Government publicists would like us believe. Wharfies must be bludgeoned into doing their job. Waterfront reform has stalled, even slipped in some ports, they cry. Don't be fooled. It's all politically motivated.Otherwise it may well be that 'a free and independent media' becomes the next casualty on the wharves, as the union, the community and the Australian economy start to count their fallen in the government assault on organised labour, penalty rates and industrial democracy. Deception, distortion, half truths, lies & make beliefWHARFIES do NOT earn over $80 thousand a year working less than 30 hours a week. They have to work long hours, night, days and weekends to earn that amount - more like 60 hours. At Patrick, the average wage was $60,000 per annum at the outbreak of the dispute - with overtime, penalty rates and productivity bonus. CRANE drivers do NOT earn $100 thousand a year for driving a crane 2 hours a day. A portainer crane operator does a 2 - 2 1/2 hour shift up the crane. Then he, or she, gets down the crane and does another couple of hours on deck or on shore before GETTING BACK UP the crane for another shift. The truth is the average award rate for stevedores is only around $30, 000 for a 35 hour week, ordinary hours. Both Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith & Patrick boss Chris Corrigan's PR people jointly penned a 'fact sheet' which they circulate to journalists during the dispute. And some, sadly, printed it verbatim, with little attempt to ascertain the truth. Sun Herald Canberra correspondent . Fia Cumming is a case in point. Her piece "Water Rats" (August 31, 1997) was subject to a successful union Press Council complaint against the paper. To be fair the Sun Herald on April 26, after we filed the complaint,did run a two page report "Aussies v the world" by Workplace Reporter Jim O'Rourke. The report compared the wage, conditions & productivity of Australian wharfies with those in Japan, the UK and the US. The findings?"Our wharfies (are) up with the best" on the productivity scales. And their earnings are modest compared to some. Australian wharfies: $70,000 (with overtime); US longshore workers: $154,000 (with overtime); Japan dockers: $52,710 (no overtime); UK docker: $70,000 (47 hour week, no overtime). Other reporters who made sure they were not printing government propaganda include:
AUSTRALIAN ports are not the worst in the world. Most of our exports go out bulk, so ports and container terminal operators just don't have the volume of trade to invest in the best equipment like the big overseas hub ports. For example a recent report in Containerisation International magazine found that Australia has the oldest cranes in the whole world! Even so, when comparing like with like, our ports are at worst average on the world productivity scale. THE waterfront has changed enormously in the last 10 years. The workforce has been reduced by 50%, but the volume of cargo handled has increased. Container lift rates have increased by approximately 20% in the last 5 years to 1997. See Dept. of Transport, Waterline for crane rates and other stats. IN bulk handling, such as grain, coal and iron ore, Australian docks are amongst the best in the world. The bumper 1997 Australian wheat crop of 19 million tonnes was loaded in record time. THE PRODUCTIVITY DEBATE: Why our container terminals can never be world's best? War on the Waterfront articles
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