Australia Up Close Dockside Firings Spark Fierce Debate By DARREN McLEAN	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
激化する豪の港湾労使紛争 先月7日、オーストラリアの港湾荷役会社が、労働者1,400人を一斉に解雇しました。労使紛争で長期化するスト打開のために、会社側がとった手段でした。しかしこの解雇、火に油をそそぐことになり、紛争は激化の一途をたどります。さて、争いの行方は・・・

Australia's import and export industry was thrown into turmoil last month when the Patrick stevedoring company sacked 1,400 Australian wharf workers at ports across the country. These mass firings triggered one of the largest industrial disputes Australia has seen in recent memory. Australians are fixed to their newspapers and televisions to watch this dispute unfold.

The "war on Australia's waterfront" is a battle between Patrick, the Maritime Union of Australia (M.U.A.) — the union that controls waterfront working conditions — and Australia's federal government.

Ausatralia's wharves and ports currently rank as some of the least efficient in the developed world. In addition to this low productivity, Australian shipping is burdened with extremely high wage costs, which are set by the M.U.A. The average Australian waterfront worker earns A$74,000 (¥6.51 million) per year for working 35 hours per week and 41 weeks per year. These pay conditions seem outrageous when compared to the average Australian who earns $35,000 (¥3.08 million) per year for working 40 hours per week, 48 weeks per year.

Some of the industries most affected by the inefficient waterfront are Australia's mining and agriculture industries — among the world's most efficient. In a competitive international market, they are burdened with excessive shipping costs for both imports and exports.

Australia's waterfront has been a point of contention for several years, but the dispute escalated when the M.U.A. waterfront workers, known as "wharfies," went on strike recently at five major Australian ports, costing Patrick $56 million (¥4.93 billion).

In an attempt to ease the conflict, Patrick offered a 6 percent pay rise for all union wharfies if productivity and work practices improved. It appeared that the M.U.A. was not willing to negotiate.

At midnight, April 7, Patrick CEO Chris Corrigan made the controversial decision to sack all 1,400 union waterfront workers. The union employees were replaced immediately with only 700 non-union employees.

The M.U.A. retaliated immediately, setting up pickets at all wharves that Patrick stevedores work. The M.U.A. gathered support from other unions and blockaded the paths of cargo trains and vehicles trying to transport containers. These protests hindered not only Patrick, but many other businesses as well.

One such victim of the picketing was a Toyota manufacturing plant in Melbourne, which was forced to temporarily shut down its production line. The plant's 2,500 employees were told to take annual leave until 45 containers, containing car parts, could be unloaded and delivered from a Melbourne dock.

Australia's prime minister, John Howard, blamed the M.U.A. for the shutdown. "It won't be the first time that the actions of that union have cost people their jobs and damaged business," he said.

In the shadow of upcoming elections, the reigning Liberal government and the opposition Labor party chose sides tactfully. Traditionally, Labor governments support unions while Liberal governments back private enterprise. For this reason the Liberal government was quick to support the firings and slam the inefficiency of the M.U.A.. The Labor opposition stood against that stance.

One of Australia's leading current affair television programs invited Australians to give their opinion on the dispute with a national phone poll. Over 200,000 responded, with 73 percent supporting Patrick and the layoffs and only 23 percent supporting the M.U.A. and the sacked wharfies.

Two weeks after the firings, the Federal Court gave an order for Patrick stevedores to reinstate the 1,400 sacked wharfies. The dispute continues, however, as Patrick appeals the decision in the High Court. The jobless wharfies and the Australian public eagerly await developments in the dispute. Whatever the outcome, however, one thing is sure: The past month marks a watershed for unions across Australia.

Shukan ST: May 8, 1998

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