The militant Maritime Union of Australia will ramp up its work stoppages in a months-long dispute snarling ports across the country after Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke attacked the company and an executive resisting the wharfies’ demands. On Friday, the union will ban loading trucks and trains at DP World container terminals in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Fremantle and is threatening to begin periodic eight-hour ship delays from Monday.
The Maritime Union has previously withdrawn similar stoppages after the company said it would not pay staff for shifts where they “cherry-pick” their tasks, in a cat-and-mouse game that has no end in sight. Mr Burke, who met with DP World and the union on Thursday after returning from leave, said the company’s pleas for government intervention were “misguided” and part of a “media strategy”. “Australians are sick to death of having highly profitable companies say everything is the fault of them having to pay their workforce the same as their competitors,” Mr Burke sai