“The Howard government’s trying to get rid of Australian seafarers and Australian ships. Where’s it going to stop? It’s not going to stop until we stop it.” Ormiston crew member speaking to Community Assembly, Yarraville, June 5th, 2007.

Suspicions have been raised this week that another assault on the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and its members is underway. MUA Victorian Branch Secretary, Kevin Bracken, this morning told a Union Solidarity community assembly that “we’re watching our work go bit by bit. It’s a fight we’ve got to have everywhere”.

Last week multinational shipping company CSL International attempted to use seafaring crew to unload the Capo Noli, a vessel in Port Kembla. Port Kembla stevedores established a picket line at the wharf. After a four day stand off CSL came to an agreement with the MUA and ACTU that the ship would comply with the International Bargaining forum agreement allowing local stevedores to unload the ship. Part of the agreement struck was a commitment from CSL that the Capo Noli will be replaced with an Australian owned and crewed vessel. This replacement is currently being converted from a tanker in China and will be flagged and registered in Australia.

This week at least one foreign flagged, foreign crewed CSL boat is expected to replace an Australian owned and crewed boat. There are fears that bosses will try to replace another four Australian crewed domestic transport vessels in coming weeks.

All this, within a month of the Federal Government’s introduction of the new Maritime Crew Visa, on July 1st, which will cost $100 million and theoretically improves the security checks on foreign crews operating in Australian waters. It has not been clarified how seafarers born and living overseas will undergo the same level of scrutiny as Australian seafarers are subjected to.

This morning’s community assembly was held in solidarity with the crew of the Ormiston, who expected to be told this afternoon that their boat is to be decommissioned, and replaced by a ship bearing foreign flags, crewed by foreign workers. About 100 supporters assembled around 11am this morning, outside the CSR property on Lyell St, Yarraville, where the Ormiston is docked.

The crew were notified during the morning that they were expected to bring the boat to Webb Dock at 3pm this afternoon. One of the workers said: “We will probably have to strip her. Take everything off, all our personal effects, move out of our home away from home. 134 years of CSR on this coast, it’s now the end of an era.”

Later this afternoon the Port of Melbourne stepped in, apparently worried that once docked the Ormiston may become a site of protest. It has denied the Ormiston a berth, and she is currently anchored at sea. A berth at Geelong or Sydney will be sought.

It is expected that the Ormiston will be replaced by a CSL International boat. This was rumoured to be the Stadacona, an ex-Australian vessel, now registered in the Bahamas and crewed by Ukrainian seafarers, due to arrive from Port Kembla tomorrow night.

However, the Clipper Trust, registered in the Bahamas and owned by the Danish ‘Clipper Group’ is en route from Bundaberg, contracted by CSR to carry sugar, a job traditionally done by the Ormiston. The Clipper Trust is scheduled to dock at Yarraville Berth #5 at 1:30 am tomorrow. It is unclear which vessel will replace the Ormiston and for how long. There is still a commitment from CSR to replace the Ormiston with an Australian registered vessel.

MUA Victorian Branch Secretary Kevin Bracken emphasised that: “We’re not against foreign born seafarers, we have fought in recent months for their wages and conditions. The goal of bringing in foreign flagged boats is to avoid Australian wages and conditions, replacing us with low paid, unskilled foreign crews working in unsafe conditions. We want to do the right thing by foreign workers too, but we want the right to work in our own country. Foreign workers should be bound by the union agreements with good conditions as well.”

In recent months the MUA has participated as a member of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), in locking in nearly 5000 boats with so-called ‘Flags of Convenience’ to a minimum standard of rights and entitlements for each worker at around $1400 per month. CSL International are reportedly not abiding by these minimum conditions, instead paying workers around US$300 per month. These workers are not provided with the safety equipment and procedures necessary to avoid loss of life in this dangerous job. They are not collectively organised and do not currently have the leverage to demand safe conditions. Many work for 6-9 months without returning home to their families.

A ‘Flag of Convenience’ (FOC) is defined by the ITF as “Where beneficial ownership and control of a vessel is found to lie elsewhere than in the country of the flag the vessel is flying, the vessel is considered as sailing under a flag of convenience”. FOCs avoid labour regulations in both the country of ownership and that of operation. They characteristically pay low wages, force long hours of work and provide unsafe working conditions. Both the Capo Noli, chartered by CSL and the Stadacona, owned by CSL, are Flag of Convenience vessels. Whilst operating mainly in Australian waters, these vessels occasionally leave for international waters and thus are able to claim exemption from fuel excise, from the GST and from income taxes. This further enhances the ability of FOC vessels to outcompete Australian owned and crewed boats. In 1996 the Howard Government introduced legislation which removed the ‘accelerated depreciation’ provision. This acted as a direct disincentive for Australian companies to buy new vessels and has contributed to the lack of replacement of Australian owned vessels as they age and retire.

The replacement of Australian crewed boats with foreign crewed boats isn’t just about keeping jobs in Australia, or about the safety of workers, it’s also an environmental hazard. One seaman from the Ormiston expressed the fear that: “It’s very dangerous for our coasts. It’s unsafe both for the workers and for the environment. We’re highly qualified workers, we’ve all completed the required course over at the Maritime College in Launceston, and the period of training…we’re being replaced by untrained foreign crews. Seafarers without any local experience of the coast line of Australia and the often treacherous waters, such as Bass Straight, which they will be working on.”

It is expected that a foreign crew will be used to take the Ormiston to India or Singapore to be taken apart, or that it will be towed without a crew. The MUA will contest this, arguing that the boat’s long term crew should work this final voyage.

CSR’s other remaining Australian owned and crewed ship, the Kowulka, may have received a reprieve this week. The boat, which carries gypsum from Thevenard to Sydney and Brisbane, has approximately 5-10 years of working life remaining. Whilst it was expected that the Kowulka would be replaced by a foreign flagged vessel in about three months, the MUA has negotiated that it continue to operate.

Cement Australia has told 3 cement ships including the Goliath and the Alcem Calaca to be in port tomorrow. CSL have denied any involvement. The outcome of these meetings is significant. It remains to be seen if there will be other attempts to replace Australian owned and crewed ships with foreign flagged ships.

It is expected that further Community Assemblies will be held in support of MUA members in coming weeks.