from The Australian, at; http://www.theaustralian.com.au/state/4319736.htm MUA takes legal action against WA port authority >From AAP 11nov98 THE maritime union has begun legal action against a port authority, a West Australian government minister and a former minister, alleging they conspired to get rid of workers because they were members of the union. The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) lodged a statement of claim with the federal court here on Monday which seeks an injunction preventing the Geraldton Port Authority making the workforce redundant on December 31 and sues for damages. The claim is modelled on the successful court action against Patrick Stevedores earlier this year, the MUA said. "The scheme had all the elements of a conspiracy and now we've got the documentation to prove it," MUA national secretary John Coombs said. "There was no sound commercial reason to outsource the labour in Geraldton, we negotiated a new labour saving scheme for the regional ports in WA back in 1993, cutting the six ports operation costs by $3 million a year. "The scheme, which allows for the integration and multi-skilling of labour, halved the Geraldton labour force and tripled productivity". According to the statement of claim, a consultant to the Geraldton Port Authority wrote a June 10 memo to general manager John Durant which claims the true aim of outsourcing the workforce was to deunionise the port. "I have also stressed the need to ensure the Minister signs off on the Geraldton Port Authority's proposed course of action, which has primarily been developed to rid the Port of MUA influence and costly penalty rates, rather than for strict business or economical reasons," the memo said. WA Transport Minister Murray Criddle and his predecessor in the portfolio, Eric Charlton, were both named as respondents. Mr Charlton has left parliament. Mr Criddle's spokesman said the minister was unaware of the details of the court action. "We've been advised through a third party of some action. Until court action is taken we regard the allegations as nonsense," he said. Mr Durant denied that the authority was trying to get rid of the union. "We deny the allegations that are made and we don't accept that the documents are correct and they never have been," he said. "The person who wrote the document has been corrected and the issue is a matter of evidence to be dealt with by the court. "We have no intention of dismissing people or proceeding in the direction that has been quoted".
