Resolution
The MUA and Patrick negotiated a new work agreement, which was adopted by the company and workers in June 1998. The agreement specified a near-halving of the permanent workforce through voluntary redundancies, the casualisation and contracting out of some jobs, smaller work crews, longer regular hours, company control over rostering, and productivity bonuses for faster loading. While the union retained the ability to represent maritime workers, the company achieved significant changes to work practices as it desired. Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith stated at the time "There appears to be a number of reforms which will satisfy the seven benchmark objectives which is very important."
The non-union workers who had been employed to break the union were dumped by their employer at the conclusion of the dispute. Many workers from the non-union group claimed they were still owed thousands of dollars in unpaid wages, and successfully sought payment of the unpaid wages through the courts. In contrast, the Fynwest employees, who were on an annual salary of around A$120,000, were awarded bonuses and commissions worth around $50,000 each on cancellation of their contracts.
Read more about this topic: 1998 Australian Waterfront Dispute
Famous quotes containing the word resolution:
“A resolution to avoid an evil is seldom framed till the evil is so far advanced as to make avoidance impossible.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)
“We often see malefactors, when they are led to execution, put on resolution and a contempt of death which, in truth, is nothing else but fearing to look it in the face—so that this pretended bravery may very truly be said to do the same good office to their mind that the blindfold does to their eyes.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“Unfortunately, many things have been omitted which should have been recorded in our journal; for though we made it a rule to set down all our experiences therein, yet such a resolution is very hard to keep, for the important experience rarely allows us to remember such obligations, and so indifferent things get recorded, while that is frequently neglected. It is not easy to write in a journal what interests us at any time, because to write it is not what interests us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)