Michael Pascoe Profile picture
Sep 29, 2020 16 tweets 4 min read Read on X
40 ships missing off Sydney!
“I cannot have Australians who need what's on those ships being held on those ships, 40 of them out there. You can go down to Port Botany or down to Kurnell and have a look out there and you can see them lining up,” PM Morrison claimed today.
You know that line about if someone says it’s raining and someone says it’s not, it’s not journalism to report them both but to stick your head out the window to see if it’s raining? If anyone stuck their head out of the window in Botany they would not see ships lined up at all.
But let’s not let facts get in the way of a convenient Prime Ministerial spray. Militant unions, Labor, extortion, so on and so forth. It’s been a long time since a Liberal leader has had a union head to kick, so the opportunity is not to be missed.
Anyone who has been around a while knows to take the claims by both sides during a waterfront dispute with a cuppa tea, a Bex and a good lie down - a grain of salt isn’t nearly enough. And when politicians pile on, a stiff drink doesn’t go astray either.
Industrial disputes have become so rare, expertise in reporting them has atrophied. There are only a couple of unions left that might be called either “militant” or “strong”, depending on your point of view.
Aside from the lack of committed membership...
...the ability of unions to conduct industrial campaigns has been severely curtailed over the past three decades. The present stoush between the MUA and Patrick is almost a novelty item – or a thing of nostalgia for those embroiled in the 1998 waterfront crisis.
The casual observer of general media might think there are 40 ships lined up at Australian ports, the dispute is about a pay grab, the wharfies are on strike and the country is being brought to its knees with already weakened supply chains breaking.
Someone not bothered with facts might even think all those ships are off Port Botany and the country was “being held to ransom”.
As Patrick’s own media release shows, (patrick.com.au/customer-info/… ) courtesy of a map, the ships delayed by various MUA go-slow tactics are spread far...
... and wide, from the middle of the Indian Ocean to north of Indonesia to New Zealand.
Patrick says they are proceeding slowly to avoid queueing at Australian ports. Image
The dispute isn’t really about pay. Yes, the MUA started negotiations with a claim for 6 per cent pay rises each year for four years, but the union has since accepted a 2.5 per cent rise from another stevedoring operator and has offered to rollover the old EBA that expired...
in June with a 2.5 per cent rise. The 6 per cent was never going to happen and everyone playing the game knew it.
On the other side, Patrick started negotiations wanting to scrap 50 pages of existing conditions, as highlighted by a union media release. (mua.org.au/news/patrick-u… )
Most importantly, the company wants to take full control of rostering away from the union. Scrapping all the very generous conditions of the old EBA was never going to happen either and everyone knew that, too.
The Patrick media release plays up the high pay enjoyed by wharfies. The MUA media release points to Patrick’s owner, Qube, handing out $10 million in bonuses to those at the top after picking up $19 million in JobKeeper payments.
So it goes. The dispute has heated up in the limited time frame present laws allow for industrial action before being sent to arbitration – something the MUA might not fancy in the present climate.
Is the union holding Australia to ransom, as Morrison alleges?
Patrick is but one of three major stevedores operating here. Goods are still moving in and out of Australia.
The union, having won extremely good conditions & wages by playing hard, is playing hard to keep them. Patrick is playing hard to improve efficiency and profitability.
You don’t want to believe everything you hear - or are fed - about it.
ends.

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More from @MichaelPascoe01

Feb 7, 2022
A fella could despair over the reporting of the crumbs the Morrison has tossed the ABC today - it seems almost nobody can work out a percentage, let alone divide a figure by 3 when it's a triennium. And as for going back to Budget papers to check, hah. #OurABC #auspoll
To be clear, the "increase" being reported as some sort of victory is 2.7% - SFA after the years of freeze - $29m a year. It'd barely cover Morrison's photo ops. And that's going off Fletcher's questionable media release. The alleged return to indexation "outlined in the May 2021
Budget papers" is by no means clear - indexation at what rate? Perspective on the universally reported "$87.2m increase over the triennium": it's only a $74.6m increase on the 2021-22 Budget's relevant figure multiplied by 3. Add the annual increase of $29 to the Budget's
Read 4 tweets
Dec 30, 2021
John Menadue: "Many of our political, bureaucratic, business and media elites have been on an American drip feed for so long they find it hard to think of the world without American global hegemony" - johnmenadue.com/the-united-sta…
"A major voice in articulating American extremism and the American Imperium is Fox News and Rupert Murdoch who exert their influence not just in America but also in the UK and Australia. Fox News supported the invasion of Iraq and is mindless of the terrible consequences.
"Rupert Murdoch applauded the invasion of Iraq because it would reduce oil prices. Fox and News Corp are leading sceptics on climate change which threatens our planet.
"But it is not just the destructive role of News Corp in the US, UK and Australia. Our media, including the ABC
Read 4 tweets
Sep 15, 2020
In the Zhenhua Drawing an Extremely Long Bow competition, we have a winner: come on down, @mcranston1 afr.com/policy/foreign…
"In the case of Dr Lowe and Dr Debelle, charting their patterns of behaviour, their public speeches and any inclusion of social media (neither have Twitter accounts) – can build profiles that have predictive powers."

(Gee, Phil and Guy would love to have predictive powers)
"Spoof accounts of Dr Debelle exist on Twitter, frequently fanning the flames of seemingly mundane debates about achieving inflation goals. That's the sort of discord it might like to see."

@god_debelle blown & confesses, handle has changed to CCP Agent Provocateur God Debelle
Read 6 tweets
Mar 18, 2020
Thus far, Treasury & RBA have shown a lack of imagination, the small scale of their actions indicating they didn't grasp the size of the crisis & were behind the game even as they announced their first steps. They've realised their mistake...
thenewdaily.com.au/finance/financ… ...but the
big question now is how far they are prepared to go tomorrow to correct it.
Do they have both the imagination and nerve to make the big leap to instill a some confidence by getting ahead?
Odds are RBA will be predictable and mimsy - 25 points and QE bond buying. That's not...
getting ahead by any means. It's housekeeping. Linked to in today's piece above is this September story thenewdaily.com.au/finance/financ… about the prescient report by prominent former central bankers about the challenge of the next crisis - this crisis - when...
Read 5 tweets
Feb 8, 2020
Hard to know which is funnier/sadder about this story: that it shows if there's one thing more important to the LNP Gazette than the LNP, it's fossil fuel companies; or how loathe the government is to come to terms with the PRRT transfer price rort; or how anyone run a...
page one lead that is credibly 100% denied in the body copy, never mind all its content being seriously old, except for updating the gratuitous gas company lobbying.
There is the odd laugh along the way, e.g. trying to equate PRRT changes with Labor's resources rent tax, but...
perhaps funniest is: "Major LNG producers in Western Australia are alarmed at the prospect of an increase in their tax burden".
When you're paying SFA tax now, it's hardly a burden.
Why the Treasury review of the Callaghan report is taking so long is another mystery. I guess..
Read 5 tweets
Jan 16, 2020
As a tease for tomorrow morning's column & for those old enough to remember her Uncle Barry ( @PhillipAdams_1 ) -

The Adventures of Bridget McKenzie
Dinky di tales of Coalition
Straight from the purse for marginal pollies
100 million worth of political slease...
If you wanta get you bagmen in a frenzy
Introduce them to Bridget McKenzie!

She's got a pollie's grin and very thick skin
Show her a pig trough, she'll be in like Flynn
Her staffers' gall will overrule anyone
She's got a political thirst, you can do your worst...
When they tap McKenzie she'll be in there first
It's no use Barnyard you'll never win
She's a better man than you are Gunga Din

Bridget...Bridget...Bridget...

The adventures of Bridget McKenzie
Dinky di tales of Coalition
Rolling pork was to be her mission...
Read 6 tweets

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