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Dock Work Convention, 1973 (No. 137) - Australia (RATIFICATION: 1974)

Articles 2 and 5 of the Convention. Measures to encourage permanent or regular employment. Efficiency of work in ports. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in reply to the 2012 direct request and to the issues raised by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) on the application of the Convention. It also notes the observations made by the ACTU in September 2014, reiterating the concerns which had been noted by the Committee. The Government indicates that Australia’s compliance with Articles 2 and 5 of the Convention is achieved through the Fair Work Act. Under the Act employment arrangements in the stevedoring industry continue to be negotiated at the enterprise level, underpinned by the minimum conditions in the National Employment Standards and modern awards. The relevant modern award for waterside workers (stevedores) is the Stevedoring Industry Award 2010 which covers all stevedores. The Government indicates that the 2010 Award ensures Australia’s compliance with Article 2 of the Convention as it provides for full time employment, guaranteed-wage employment and casual employment. It reiterates that a guaranteed-wage employee is guaranteed a minimum number or an average number of full shifts each week, or instead of that engagement, is provided the equivalent payment. The Government adds that stevedores have the same rights as other employees to participate in collective bargaining. Specifically, the Fair Work Act sets out a framework that facilitates the making of enterprise agreements through collective bargaining. Good-faith bargaining obligations for bargaining representatives are also applied to the agreement making process. These arrangements allow for cooperation between employers, workers and their respective organizations to facilitate improving the efficiency of work in ports. The Committee recalls the observations of the ACTU indicating that collective bargaining has proven insufficient to ensure compliance with the objective of Article 2 of the Convention. The ACTU added that despite the best endeavours of unions in bargaining negotiations, there continues to be a high level of casual employment. With respect to Article 6 of the Convention, the Government reports that it oversees the quality assurance of the vocational education and training (VET) sector through its national regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA). Australia’s VET system underwent a national quality framework review in 2012 and, as a result of this review, new standards for training packages, developed by the National Skills Standards Council, were endorsed by state and federal ministers in Australia. In the case of the stevedoring industry, the Transport and Logistics Industry Skills Council (TLISC) will be responsible for the design and delivery of the training packages. The ASQA will be responsible for the regulation of these training packages. The Government indicates that it is expected that all industry training packages will comply with the new standards for training packages by 31 December 2015 and will be reviewed soon after. The Government further indicates that it is not possible to supply data on the numbers of different categories of stevedoring workers as Australia has moved away from industry-based employment to enterprise-based employment. The Committee invites the Government to submit information on the results of the measures taken, including through collective bargaining, to encourage the provision of permanent or regular employment for dockworkers (Article 2(1)). The Committee would also welcome examining examples of measures taken and results achieved at the tripartite level to improve the efficiency of work in ports (Article 5).