USW members at Alcoa are taking action to support members of the Maritime Union of Australia who crew the MV Portland, which has been carrying alumina for smelting around Australia’s coast for Alcoa for 27 years.
Click Here to read the Memo from International Vice President (Administration) Tom Conway.
Now Alcoa is attempting to replace the MUA members with a foreign-flagged ship whose non-Australian, non-union crew is paid as little as $2-an-hour and is exempt from Australian taxation, workplace regulation and security requirements.
The 19 crew members of the MV Portland have refused to sail the ship and have now been subjected to a federal injunction and may face contempt charges. Meanwhile, Alcoa has begun operating the foreign-flagged, non-union ship.
IndustriALL Global Union, to which the USW is affiliated, has passed an emergency resolution condemning Alcoa's action and calling on the company to “Resolve this dispute in favor of preserving Australian jobs by returning to the company's long standing practice of using Australian ships and seafarers"
Please sign the petition in support of the crew of the MV Portland.