Australian crew of the Alexander Spirit are to be replaced with international workers.
The crew of an oil tanker docked in Devonport is engaging in illegal industrial action, the ship's operator will argue in the Industrial Relations Commission today.The 36 Australian crew members of the Alexander Spirit were told last week they would be replaced.
Caltex Australia no longer needs the tanker to transport fuel between domestic ports so it plans to replace the Australian crew with foreign workers on a new international route.
The crew is refusing to set sail for Singapore until they receive more information about their redundancy entitlements.
Federal Employment Minister Eric Abetz said he sympathised with the workers and wanted to see the dispute dealt with quickly.
"The circumstances must be very difficult for the workers," he said.
"Job security is an important issue for anybody, especially in Tasmania where we've got a situation of, still, relatively high unemployment.
"Whether the employer is right or wrong, whether the maritime union is right or wrong in this dispute, is for the Fair Work Commission to determine.
Mr Abetz adamantly rejected suggestions that his Government's legislation was at fault.
He said the Government's proposed changes to cabotage rules played no part in the dispute.
"Nothing has changed ... in relation to cabotage," he said.
Workers 'have not acted illegally'
The Maritime Union's Ian Bray said he was confident the crew was acting within its rights.
"We don't believe that they've acted illegally, we believe that they've acted responsibly," he said.
"We believe that they've acted in accordance with their agreement and we intend to pursue that argument in Fair Work Australia."
Mr Bray said the ship's operator, Teekay, would argue the industrial action is illegal.
"We'll see what the company submission is in terms of its application, we'll have a look at that," he said.
"We'll sift through it, we'll deal with our evidence based on fact.
"We're obviously saying that we don't think we've breached the law.
"We believe that there's a right to consultation.
"We think they've got every right to know what the company's intentions are for them into the future."
Tasmania's Opposition Leader Bryan Green has thrown his support behind the industrial action.
He said Australia needed to fight to protect local jobs.
"[We have] Caterpillar jobs being lost from here to a factory in Thailand, this is not too dissimilar," he said.
"If we don't make a stand when it comes to protecting our well paid jobs against jobs that are effectively people being paid nothing, then what are we doing as a country?
"We've got well paid jobs that are being lost, being replaced by people on very low wages.
"I think this is an issue that should galvanise the country to make sure that we protect these people, the jobs, and allow the whole country to understand just how important it is to stand up for them."
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