The dispute centered around Qube docking workers the 12 weeks pay during the dispute and then refus- ing, as they had previously done, to pro-rata reduce their annual 1820 hours by the number of hours that they docked their pay as per the requirements of the EA when authorised absences from site occur for any reason. We have had to spend the last 2 years using our lawyers to drag Qube kicking and scream- ing to reimburse Fremantle permanents in accor- dance with the only reasonable conclusion that can be drawn from the agreement. Qube’s position re- quired Permanent Employees to work approximate- ly 300 - 360 hours for free! Unfortunately, it was management higher up the chain that failed to grasp the concept of making employees work for zero pay is illegal! The position taken by Qube was absolute nonsense but not unexpected from this company. The legal process got somewhere near $1 million in backpay for the permanents in Fremantle with many getting amounts north of $20,000 and $30,000. It has been a long and complex legal campaign to get to this point, with the first win on this matter be- fore a single Commissioner in Fair Work which was followed up with a win before the Full Bench on the appeal by Qube to the decision. Congratulations to our in-house legal team and the 2 barristers we used who worked hard to go the distance with our mem- bership despite the obvious frustration with the ap- proach taken by Qube to deny our members justice. The discipline of our members to stay the course while our lawyers fought this matter through the courts is to be admired. The court process through the substantive case and appeal is always time con- suming and costly and the frustration self-evident but our members held the line as our lawyers did the work. A great result for our Fremantle membership and our membership across the country as we clearly define how workers on annualised hours in the bulk and general areas must have time spent taking Pro- tected Industrial Action treated by the employer. United We Stand!
We have prosecuted Qube for small amounts such as a $160 underpayment in Dampier and a $240 un- derpayment in Port Hedland, unfortunately because approaches to local and senior national manage- ment to resolve these small underpayments were re- buffed. They did, however, decide to make the pay- ment after we had put the matter in the courts, but we have gone on with it to have them prosecuted for the Breach of the agreement. Qube of course have had to admit the contraventions of the EA and we are going to a hearing to push for penalties which will act as a deterrent to stop further wilful breaches of the agreement.
The MUA now has a string of prosecutions against Qube in the Courts with a heap more to come as Qube attempts to stamp itself as Australia’s worst corporate serial offender in terms of breaching the agreements it makes with its own workforce. Plain and simple, Qube commits wage theft regularly and systematically with no regard or commitment to the employees it strikes Enterprise Agreements with. Every attempt to resolve breaches and disputes is met with the standard ‘get f**ked’ and so we are forced to prosecute them in the Courts just to get them to comply with their own agreements. There is no other employer the MUA deals with that refuses so routine- ly to resolve issues that are raised with it, and it is clear from us that the only deterrent will be escalating penalties from the courts and the consequences that must flow from systematic breaches of labour agree- ments. The MUA has a number of high-profile cases pending against this rogue employer, the most significant of which is the $15 million ‘payback’ case where Qube looks to have illegally deducted monies from an esti- mated 600 to 700 employees over an extended pe- riod of many years. Qube have tried to avoid scrutiny on this issue by trying to vary earlier expired agree- ments to try and deem such conduct now legal – after the event! Of course, we rolled them on this cynical attempt to subvert the law that applies to every other company that strikes a deal with its employees. The recent win on the Average Annualised Hours case that recently gave around $1 million in backpay to our permanent members in Fremantle is an example of having to fight Qube in the Courts over an extend- ed period of time, simply to get them to honour the agreement when Protected Industrial Action is taken – as they had done in previous instances of Protected Industrial Action right up until this most recent dis- pute in Fremantle.
We have prosecuted Qube for breaches of the agreement in many varied circumstances such as:
: Wrongful deductions made from the wages of VSE and GWE to cover shortfalls in a particular fortnight : Failure to adjust the Average Annualised Hours following protected action : Failure to train GWE ’ s with the required skills within 6 and 12 months of the commencement of employment : Underpayment for closed port days while on a PTO : Underpayment for public holidays while on personal leave : Incorrect payment of LSL : Failure to train employees to the required Certificate II Stevedoring Training : Failure to pay the appropriate meal allowance : Failure to train Leading Hands as First Aiders within 6 months of them attaining that role Qube have already admitted to many of the con- traventions above but in total, these contraventions which have been admitted and on which we are waiting hearings to determine penalties or for which we are waiting hearing on the substantive matters, total well over thousands of individual breaches of the agreement. Staggering conduct from Australia’s largest logistics company. Qube have now had their first 2 penalties handed down by the Courts for prosecutions run by the MUA. In the last week of November they got a $1000 penalty for what was termed a technical breach and a first offence. In the first week of December they copped a $11300 penalty on the issue of the $160 underpayment breach.
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