Published: 21 Jan 2015
This letter to the editor was submitted today, January 21, 2015. Whether or not the Australian will publish the letter is yet to be determined.
The news report (“Aboriginal employer’s EBA win over union”, 20/1) contains some factual inaccuracies.
Firstly, the Maritime Union of Australia supported the latest agreement put forward by Aboriginal Maritime (AML).
The MUA successfully opposed AML’s original agreement in late 2014, a position vindicated by the full bench of the Fair Work Commission.
The company then rightly went away and made vast improvements to the terms and conditions of employment before conducting a second ballot of it workforce.
Due to the improvements the MUA did not oppose the latest version and in fact supported it by seeking to be covered by the agreement.
As such, it is inaccurate to describe it as a win over the union.
Regards,
Ian Bray, Assistant National Secretary, Maritime Union of Australia
