Australian Seafarers: Bullying or Decisive Action?

Maritime News
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more on this story of a huge international mining and metals conglomerate is forcing Australian mariners off ships in the Australian coastwise trade

[B]Hundreds Turn out to Brisbane CBD to protest Rio’s actions in dumping Aussie Seafarers[/B]

Posted by Ashleigh Telford on February 14, 2016

More than four hundred workers from several unions, most notably from CFMEU construction, took their fight straight to multi-billion dollar miner Rio Tinto for its complicity in sacking Australian seafarers and replacing them with foreign workers paid as little as $2-an-hour.

Last week in the port of Newcastle five crewmembers were marched down the gangway of the CSL Melbourne by more than 30 police. Those same police escorted the foreign replacement crew onto the ship to sail it away.

The CSL Melbourne carried alumina from Gladstone to Newcastle for Rio Tinto subsidiary, Pacific Aluminium for more than five years. However, the route between Queensland and New South Wales is still being utilised, only by non-Australian workers not subject to the same rights and conditions as their Australian counterparts.

The rally began outside of Brisbane’s Central Station and made its way through the city streets to Rio’s offices on Albert Street.

As well as the strong crowd of protesters and State Labor Party members, speeches came from CFMEU Assistant State Secretary Jade Ingham, QCU Secretary Ros McLennan, ACTU President Ged Kearney, ETU Assistant Secretary Peter Ong and sacked seafarer from the MV Portland Dale Eaton.

Maritime Union of Australia Queensland Deputy Branch Secretary Jason Miners said the Federal Government was complicit in Rio Tinto’s actions in granting them a licence to exploit a loophole in domestic shipping legislation.

“Rio made $806 million US dollars in just six months, they made more profit than Switzerland’s Gross Domestic Product,” Miners said.

“A massive chunk of that $806 million was made here from the minerals that all Australians own and we’re being repaid by being unceremoniously sacked from our jobs, to me that’s abhorrent.

“These jobs aren’t offshored, they still exist. However, Pacific Aluminium have been given the green light by the Government to have foreign ships of shame with dodgy environmental, safety and labour practices on our coastal trade.”

Following the speeches MUA Assistant National Secretary Ian Bray, along with Queensland Assistant Secretary Paul Gallagher and the ACTU’s Kearney marched into the Rio Tinto offices and handed a letter to the management demanding replacement jobs for the displaced seafarers.

Following the brief meeting in the glass foyer, surrounded by hundreds of angry workers, Bray reported back to the crowd the outcomes.

He said that Rio has agreed to meeting with the MUA and other maritime unions.

“We will continue to agitate, we will continue to organise, we will continue to push the fight, not only here, but around the country and Canberra, or wherever we have to go to make sure our message and our voices are heard,” Bray said.

of course, to all of you who feel a union is not worth being a member of need not fear Joe Boss doing this to you too!

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[QUOTE=c.captain;179309]more on this story of a huge international mining and metals conglomerate is forcing Australian mariners off ships in the Australian coastwise trade

of course, to all of you who feel a union is not worth being a member of need not fear Joe Boss doing this to you too![/QUOTE]
No, Joe Boss love me ! He make sure I get my $247 a week for the next two months. He paid that money for me into that unemployment. He had to keep my last year 401k he say he put in there fo me but he need the money. He got jet fuel to buy and them people in Washington to pay to make sure he taxes stay low and they don’t look in Grand Cayman too hard. I just sorry poor man, it my fault I ain’t got no job now. I got me $500 of them food stamps every month to feed my wife and two little children until Boss calls me back. They get sick I just go to emergency room cause I can’t pay no Obama insurance. I got to move from my house cause the bank wants it but it ain’t all my fault I ain’t got no job. Obama, the Mexicans and the Muslims did this to me. Ain’t no Joe Boss got nothing to do with it. Don’t need no union. Joe Boss tells me when to work and how to think. He be callling me any day now but he better hurry they 'bout to cut off my phone.

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Australia has good strong unions. The minimum wage in Australia is $15 to $20 per hour.

About the only “good” unions in the US that go out and actually represent their members are the ILA & ILWU.

The maritime unions in the US are just mariner paid headhunters that under bid each other to supply cheaper labor in a race to the bottom.

Where are the maritime unions on work hours and crew fatigue? No where o be seen.

Obama is still allowing the USCG to pass out waivers like candy for foreign Mariners to work in the OCS (offshore oil patch).

Obama is also passing out work visas for foreign tech workers to come take jobs from Americans. What has Obama done about offshoring and corporate “inversions” ? Nothing.

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[QUOTE=tugsailor;179332]Australia has good strong unions. The minimum wage in Australia is $15 to $20 per hour.

About the only “good” unions in the US that go out and actually represent their members are the ILA & ILWU.

The maritime unions in the US are just mariner paid headhunters that under bid each other to supply cheaper labor in a race to the bottom.

Where are the maritime unions on work hours and crew fatigue? No where o be seen.

Obama is still allowing the USCG to pass out waivers like candy for foreign Mariners to work in the OCS (offshore oil patch).

Obama is also passing out work visas for foreign tech workers to come take jobs from Americans. What has Obama done about offshoring and corporate “inversions” ? Nothing.[/QUOTE]
from gcaptain: U.S. Maritime Unions: Insufficient Shipboard Manning Fuels Fatigue, Boosts Risks

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it wasnt police it was private security that pulled them off
Scary part is it is a one off deal done to get around the law

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[QUOTE=The Commodore;179158] If Sanders wins, he’s gonna make us more like France. How’s their Merchant Marine? [/QUOTE]

Richer European countries have had their Merchant Marines gutted by people with Socialist/Communist attitudes, whereby they don’t believe in borders and anyone on the planet should be allowed to work anywhere. When people in countries like Norway and the UK say that there should be job protection in place for the seamen from respective countries, they get shouted down as racists, as a results more and more people from poor former communist countries and the phillipines are replacing their local seafarers.

The donald as a man who always talks about protecting borders, doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would follow the european socialist/communist approach. Now Sanders on the hand could well spell the beginning of the end for the american marine, with all those borders to be broken down.

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[QUOTE=powerabout;179497]it wasnt police it was private security that pulled them off
Scary part is it is a one off deal done to get around the law[/QUOTE]

If you’ve been reading the thread there’s been a second one. Camel’s nose under the tent.

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[QUOTE=seamanstan;179552]Richer European countries have had their Merchant Marines gutted by people with Socialist/Communist attitudes, whereby they don’t believe in borders and anyone on the planet should be allowed to work anywhere. When people in countries like Norway and the UK say that there should be job protection in place for the seamen from respective countries, they get shouted down as racists, as a results more and more people from poor former communist countries and the phillipines are replacing their local seafarers.

The donald as a man who always talks about protecting borders, doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would follow the european socialist/communist approach. Now Sanders on the hand could well spell the beginning of the end for the american marine, with all those borders to be broken down.[/QUOTE]

Sanders is opposed to “open borders” and is on the record stating thus. In his own words:

[b]“It would make everybody in America poorer—you’re doing away with the concept of a nation state…

“What right-wing people in this country would love is an open-border policy. Bring in all kinds of people, work for $2 or $3 an hour, that would be great for them. I don’t believe in that. I think we have to raise wages in this country, I think we have to do everything we can to create millions of jobs.

“You know what youth unemployment is in the United States of America today? … You think we should open the borders and bring in a lot of low-wage workers, or do you think maybe we should try to get jobs for those kids?”[/b]

I swear to Christ, some of you guys hear “socialist” and all critical thinking skills go down the rat hole.

Meanwhile, Trump says he thinks you make too much money- and you rally around him like he’s a god.

I don’t get it.

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[QUOTE=catherder;179562]Sanders is opposed to “open borders” and is on the record stating thus.[/QUOTE]

Without finding that quote that’s what I would have figured. Bernie is wanting to advance the cause of the worker, Trump is wanting to advance the cause of the corporations.

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[QUOTE=catherder;179562]
I swear to Christ, some of you guys hear “socialist” and all critical thinking skills go down the rat hole.
Meanwhile, Trump says he thinks you make too much money- and you rally around him like he’s a god.
I don’t get it.[/QUOTE]

Most Americans I have discussed politics with (with a few exceptions)doesn’t seam to understand that Socialism isn’t the same as Communism and the concept of Social Democracy is seen as an oxymoron.

An American Trainee Barge Master on a jackup rig working in S.E.Asia, when I used that term “Social Democracy” said; “isn’t that a contradiction in terms”

By the way, he was not your average Joe, but an Academy type on a fast track, destined for higher office in the organization of a “Swiss” Drilling Company.

You would believe an educated person working in an international setting, would have some basic knowledge of the world and political systems used in other countries, but I find it sorely lacking in most cases.

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No one system or philosophy is perfect, nor is any particular candidate.

A smart approach would be to cherry pick the best ideas regardless of their source.

Most politicians, regardless of party, only make small incremental changes that have little real impact. Government has a lot of inertia; it does not change course or speed very much within a single administration. Simply put, it doesn’t make much difference who gets elected, things stay headed in about the same direction.

I am in favor of more significant and faster course changes. Otherwise, it won’t happen in my lifetime.

Trump and Bernie or Bloomberg (“outsider candidates”) are the most likely to make meaningful changes. Nonetheless, those changes are unlikely to be sweeping or completed with their administration.

I have a strong candidate preference that is a better match to my political philosophy, but I am ready to give any of the outside candidates a chance.

Go Trump. Go Bernie. Bloomberg jump in. Anyone, except the “establishment” candidates.

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[QUOTE=catherder;179562]Sanders is opposed to “open borders” and is on the record stating thus. In his own words:

[B]“It would make everybody in America poorer—you’re doing away with the concept of a nation state…

“What right-wing people in this country would love is an open-border policy. Bring in all kinds of people, work for $2 or $3 an hour, that would be great for them. I don’t believe in that. I think we have to raise wages in this country, I think we have to do everything we can to create millions of jobs.

“You know what youth unemployment is in the United States of America today? … You think we should open the borders and bring in a lot of low-wage workers, or do you think maybe we should try to get jobs for those kids?”[/B]

I swear to Christ, some of you guys hear “socialist” and all critical thinking skills go down the rat hole.

Meanwhile, Trump says he thinks you make too much money- and you rally around him like he’s a god.

I don’t get it.[/QUOTE]

In Europe it has been the socialists that have awfully similar views in general to Sanders that have broken down the borders in favour of global socialism. I have a feeling that that interview Sanders gave to Vox you are quoting is just an attempt to use reverse psychology to win votes, as a reaction to Trumps talk about strengthening borders, he would get slaughtered if he didn’t say something to counter it.

Works something like this:

Step 1: Tell the masses that its the right wing that want open borders for cheap labor so they’ll vote left.
Step 2: They vote left.
Step 3: The left wins.
Step 4: The left opens the borders.
Step 5: Immigrants usually vote to the left, as they’ll let more of their tribes in, thereby future election results are more secure for the left.

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[QUOTE=tugsailor;179578]Trump and Bernie or Bloomberg (“outsider candidates”) are the most likely to make meaningful changes. Nonetheless, those changes are unlikely to be sweeping or completed with their administration.[/QUOTE]

except an Administration which is hell bent to change everything runs up against a Congress intent on changing nothing. Since only the Congress is empowered to propose new statutes, an Administration can only work within those that are existing through executive order and policy which is pretty limiting to what can be accomplished plus the Congress is always poised to pounce upon an Administration’s actions declaring “executive over reach” when an Administration makes a change the Congress (read here big business) doesn’t like vis. CO2 emissions reduction.

I still do fear a Trump Administration would be horrible for the US maritime industry (read US mariners) here by issuing Administration waivers to companies who don’t like needing to hire American mariners because we cost too much. What we see happening in Australian shows how the position of the mariner can be undermined by the wrong Administration even against the wishes of the Legislative Branch. BE VERY AFRAID OF “THE DONALD”, HE COULD BE THE END OF US!

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The one thing most of us might agree on is that the Obama administration has been bad for US Mariners.

What was the last administration that was really good for Mariners? Roosevelt?

Has Danish government policy been good for Danish Mariners? Norway? Greece? Singapore?

Who does well by Mariners? What kind of government do they have?

What could the US learn from them?

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[QUOTE=tugsailor;179598]The one thing most of us might agree on is that the Obama administration has been bad for US Mariners.

What was the last administration that was really good for Mariners? Roosevelt?

Has Danish government policy been good for Danish Mariners? Norway? Greece? Singapore?

Who does well by Mariners? What kind of government do they have?

What could the US learn from them?[/QUOTE]

One fact. Trump will make the American mariner Great Again. Sanders and Clinton will slap testicles together.

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[QUOTE=seamanstan;179711]One fact. Trump will make the American mariner Great Again. Sanders and Clinton will slap testicles together.[/QUOTE]

BLOW IT OUT YOUR ASS WITH THIS BLATANT PARTISAN POLITICAL POST and YOUR CRUDE JUVENILE HUMOR …[B][U][I]SIR![/I][/U][/B]

such a douche!

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[QUOTE=c.captain;179719]BLOW IT OUT YOUR ASS WITH THIS BLATANT PARTISAN POLITICAL POST and YOUR CRUDE JUVENILE HUMOR …[B][U][I]SIR![/I][/U][/B]

such a douche![/QUOTE]

Don’t get excited or take the bait. Seamanstan is obviously the nom de plume of that cognitive dissonance whack job. Or the “Ohm Buggie” guy.

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[QUOTE=KPChief;179721]Don’t get excited or take the bait. Seamanstan is obviously the nom de plume of that cognitive dissonance whack job. Or the “Ohm Buggie” guy.[/QUOTE]

If you are aiming at me I DO NOT write under any alias, nor do I use language like that, or have ever done so.

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[QUOTE=ombugge;179732]If you are aiming at me I DO NOT write under any alias, nor do I use language like that, or have ever done so.[/QUOTE]

I agree that you did not need to be dragged into this…seamanstan is his own unique CRETIN and DOUCHEBAG EXTRAORDINAIRE!

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[QUOTE=c.captain;179735]I agree that you did not need to be dragged into this…[B]seamanstan is his own unique CRETIN and DOUCHEBAG EXTRAORDINAIRE![/QUOTE][/B]

Why, because he doesn’t agree with you Scooter ?