Australia’s sovereign icebreaker servicing Antarctica is set to be stuck in port during the coming winter, as its crew prepares to walk out over the same federal wage dispute primed to cripple airports in opposition to the Australian Public Service Commission’s (APSC) wage deal.
Successful protected industrial action ballot results filed with the Fair Work Commission reveal that crew operating the mighty RSV Nuyina have voted to walk off the job, with the Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers and the Australian Maritime Officers Union both voting up protected action against government contractor Serco Defence Services, which is paid to operate the vessel.
The log of approved bans is comprehensive. They include running the engines, loading and unloading cargo, running cranes, fuelling, watercraft transfers and running helicopters.
It’s yet another arguably avoidable industrial dispute that has flared in the wake of the APSC’s deal with the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) that flows down to non-Australian Public Service (APS) entities in the federal sphere, including Serco, which takes on contracts bound by federal conditions and union coverage.
The pay deal between the APSC and the CPSU has struck a pay increase of 11.2%, which started off as a claim for a 20% pay increase but was settled for the former figure after a trade-off for a right to work from home was enshrined as a workplace condition for those who can.
“The Australian Antarctic Division was notified the Serco crew of RSV Nuyina would begin protected industrial action from 4pm on Thursday. The action affects the unloading and loading of cargo on RSV Nuyina,” a spokesperson for the Australian Antarctic Division told The Mandarin.
“The AAD is monitoring the situation.”
According to tracking data, RSV Nuyina is currently docked at Hobart, meaning the strikes could hit immediately.
“The icebreaker, RSV Nuyina, is the main lifeline to Australia’s Antarctic and sub-Antarctic research stations and the central platform of our Antarctic and Southern Ocean scientific research,” the vessel’s official website says.
“Nuyina enables us to cross thousands of kilometres of the world’s stormiest seas, navigate through Antarctica’s formidable sea ice barrier, and live and work for extended periods on the coldest, driest and windiest continent on earth — some of the harshest conditions in the world.”
That’s if you have the staff to crew it. And winter is coming.
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