Wharfies holding country to ransom - again

(ABC News: Brendan Esposito) The Federal Government has weighed into a dispute that is delaying 10 freight carriers at the Port of Botany, saying industrial action by the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) is "holding the country to ransom". Ten ships are waiting off Sydney; others have been diverted to Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. The union has been negotiating with three stevedoring companies for a 6 per cent wage increase over four years. Patricks, the stevedoring company at the centre of the union-breaking wharf dispute of the late 1990s, said it was "bewildered" by the pay claim as the average permanent worker on the wharves already earned about $155,000 a year……. https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2020-09-28/maritime-union-criticised-over-wharf-pay-dispute-port-of-botany/12710172