Port Hedland Tug Engineers Approve Enterprise Agreement

Operations at Port Hedland, Australias largest bulk export terminal, will resume uninterrupted after the ports tug boat engineers approved a labour agreement and decided not to take any further industrial actions, Teekay Shipping (Australia) Pty said in an e-mailed statement. Teekay also said that the Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers (AIMPE) backed the new four-year enterprise agreement, which was according to Teekay approved by unions representing tug masters and deckhands on November 10. Teekay, contracted by BHP Biliton to manage the tug fleet at the port, had for the past eighteen months negotiated with Australian Maritime Officers Union (AMOU), the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and the Australian Institute of Marine & Power Engineers (AIMPE) about the terms of replacement enterprise agreements for its employees who operate the tugs which service the port of Port Hedland. The initial move to strike came after negotiations with Teekay had failed to meet workers’ requests for maintaining shifts to 12 hours. Namely, as the workload at the port increased, workers were faced with longer shifts, reaching up to 18 hours. World Maritime News Staff