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Speaker 1: But what we do know is that East fuel workers

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Speaker 1: have begun that industrial action, demanding pay and conditions in

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Speaker 1: line with their counterparts in other states and what they're after. Well,

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Speaker 1: the operators are pumping fuel slower than normal with bans

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Speaker 1: on preventative maintenance among the low level action which began

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Speaker 1: at midnight last night. We spoke to Liquid's aliance organizer

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Speaker 1: Shane Reside earlier in the week, who said they're taking

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Speaker 1: this action because those negotiations have come to a halt.

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Speaker 1: Now Shane joins me on the line now for a

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Speaker 1: bit of an update. Good morning, Shane, Good morning, How

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Speaker 1: are you not too bad? Shane? Tell me how is

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Speaker 1: the industrial action progressing at this point?

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Speaker 2: Well, as we spoke about earlier this week, the operators

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Speaker 2: who are out of the fuel terminal this morning have

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Speaker 2: started implementing their ban from midnight, So there's refusing to

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Speaker 2: pump fuel and excess of seventy five percent and a

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Speaker 2: number of other low level bands. Now a couple of

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Speaker 2: things have happened. Firstly, we were a little bit shocked

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Speaker 2: to learn that they've brought in a couple of managers

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Speaker 2: from Sydney who are in the terminal. They're seeking to

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Speaker 2: do the work that the operators would normally be doing,

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Speaker 2: which is disappointing from our perspective because of course we

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Speaker 2: would have preferred that they would use that energy and

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Speaker 2: time to at least sit down and speak to us

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Speaker 2: and try and reach deal. But the other thing that's

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Speaker 2: happening is that the operators on site have been told

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Speaker 2: that they're going to have their pay for taking their actions.

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Speaker 1: Today, right, so are they They're not protected?

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Speaker 2: They are protected industrial actions. There was a loophole that

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Speaker 2: was discovered by some fancy, top end of town lawyers

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Speaker 2: a couple of years ago where they discovered that if

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Speaker 2: you put low level bands on, the company can still

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Speaker 2: basically doc your pay for doing that. It's a very

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Speaker 2: very aggressive maneuver. We only usually see it from the

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Speaker 2: most aggressive companies, usually multinational oil and gas companies just

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Speaker 2: like Folk back. So look at a big escalation from

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Speaker 2: the company and it did catch up by surprise on

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Speaker 2: the hope, we weren't expecting them to do this, And

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Speaker 2: sadly though, it's consistent with what we're seeing more and

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Speaker 2: more from you know, these big multinationals in Australia.

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Speaker 1: So what's going to happen now? By the sounds of us. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: the industrial action sounds like it's going to be a

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Speaker 1: bit useless.

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Speaker 2: Well, this particular series of bands certainly isn't having the

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Speaker 2: effect we were hoping. You know, we as we discussed

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Speaker 2: earlier this week, we're just really wanted to sit down

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Speaker 2: with the company like adults and try and try and

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Speaker 2: square this away. But the last correspondence we received from

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Speaker 2: the company was that they're not prepared to talk to us.

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Speaker 2: They don't see any utility and doing so because apparently

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Speaker 2: it's not a reasonable thing for people to get paid

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Speaker 2: the same work for doing the set paid the same

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Speaker 2: money from doing the same work. But look, I think,

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Speaker 2: you know, we're going to get together as a group

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Speaker 2: of operators and have a little nag and think about

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Speaker 2: what we're going to do, because I know that they're

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Speaker 2: very committed to getting a strong outcome here. But you know,

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Speaker 2: even more than that, as I reckon you and listeners

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Speaker 2: would probably agree, it's also just about feeling like you're

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Speaker 2: being treated with respect, and we're really not being treated

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Speaker 2: with respect at the moment. And it's a bit galling

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Speaker 2: to have a multinational company like Boupac worth billions of

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Speaker 2: dollars being just really so disrespectful.

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Speaker 1: Has the company also moved to get overseas overseas workers

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Speaker 1: in while that industrial action is over, why underway or

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Speaker 1: have they just have they pulled in those managers as

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Speaker 1: you've said, they're from Sydney.

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Speaker 2: So far we know these managers at the terminal from Sydney.

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Speaker 2: They did announce late last week that they were actively

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Speaker 2: exploring the possibility of bringing overseas operators in. As far

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Speaker 2: as we know, there isn't any currently on the ground

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Speaker 2: in Darwin, but you know the threat is there, and

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Speaker 2: that they have been prepared to be so aggressive and

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Speaker 2: response to our very low level action that they're completely

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Speaker 2: refusing to meet with us, that they're prepared to apply

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Speaker 2: manager that continuing all of that together with to us

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Speaker 2: that they are absolutely as ruthless as bringing in overseas

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Speaker 2: operators to do those role.

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Speaker 1: Now, Vopak did provide us with a statement They said

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Speaker 1: that they've confirmed it's Star and terminal operators have decided

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Speaker 1: to engage in industrial action that could include temporary work stoppages,

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Speaker 1: and while we acknowledge and respect their right to take

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Speaker 1: this action, we've done our utmost to reach a fair

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Speaker 1: and equitable resolution. We apologize for any inconvenience caused. They say,

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Speaker 1: we have business continuity plans in place to ensure our

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Speaker 1: terminal continues to operate safely. We remain committed to working

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Speaker 1: together with the union in reaching a fair agreement as

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Speaker 1: soon as possible. Shane, what's your response to that statement, Well.

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Speaker 2: It's it's news to me that they remain committed to

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Speaker 2: working with union to breach affair and equitable outcome, because,

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Speaker 2: like I said, last we heard from them was a

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Speaker 2: couple of weeks ago when they said that they saw

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Speaker 2: no utility in meeting with us. So, you know, it

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Speaker 2: seems to me like again, and this multi national company

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Speaker 2: is far more committed to trying to fly operators all

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Speaker 2: around the countryside to undermine this action, and far more

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Speaker 2: committed to trying to undermine the action than they are

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Speaker 2: to actually sit down and talk to us, which is

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Speaker 2: disappointing and unnecessary. Where to from here, Well, look, like

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Speaker 2: I said, the operators are very committed committing a strong

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Speaker 2: outcome here. You know, the very professional group of workers,

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Speaker 2: they work very hard, they take a lot of pride

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Speaker 2: in their work, as they well should, and they're not

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Speaker 2: impressed that Bopack is treating them like this. We're going

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Speaker 2: to have to sit down together over the coming days

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Speaker 2: and make a decision about what our next move is.

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Speaker 2: As I mentioned earlier, you know, we've got a whole

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Speaker 2: range of actions are available to us. I don't want

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Speaker 2: to sort of preempt what it is that we're going

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Speaker 2: to do at this stage, because really it's up to

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Speaker 2: the operators together to make a decision about how they're

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Speaker 2: going to approach this very aggressive action from management.

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Speaker 1: Shane should tell Ritorians be bracing for any interruptions of

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Speaker 1: fuel supplies.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think territoriums should be feeling very angry that

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Speaker 2: a company like Vopak, multinational old company West Billions is

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Speaker 2: right there in Darwin and treating Territorians with such terrible disrespect.

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Speaker 2: I think that the people in the territory should be

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Speaker 2: doing their utmost to support their fellow Territorians and their

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Speaker 2: struggle to be treated with the respect that all of

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Speaker 2: us preserves. And if that means that we all together

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Speaker 2: have to brace up against them, then that's what we're

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Speaker 2: going to have to do.

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Speaker 1: Well. And look, I guess that you know that people

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Speaker 1: do want to support these operators and they do want

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Speaker 1: to support the action that's being taken, but for a

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Speaker 1: lot of people, they actually can't afford for the fuel

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Speaker 1: prices to go up, and so they're probably not going

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Speaker 1: to be real happy if you know, there is a

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Speaker 1: fuel supply shortage and if it ultimately means that there's

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Speaker 1: going to be price gouging.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, I certainly hope that the oil comeanes and

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Speaker 2: the fuel distributors don't use this dispute as an opportunity

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Speaker 2: to gouge territories. I think it'd be a very disappointing

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Speaker 2: move from them. But look, you know, we can't control that.

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Speaker 2: We can't control the actions of these multinational companies. All

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Speaker 2: we can control is you know what we do in

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Speaker 2: the face of this kind of hostility from a European

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Speaker 2: oil company. You know, we're not trying to create any

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Speaker 2: problems for anyone in the churchy or anywhere else. As

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Speaker 2: I said, the operator is a very professional group of workers,

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Speaker 2: very high risk occupation. They you know, they take a

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Speaker 2: lot of pride in their work and this isn't the

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Speaker 2: kind of dispute that anyone wanted to find themselves in.

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Speaker 2: This is both pack that's walked us off the edge

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Speaker 2: of this cliff.

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Speaker 1: Well, Shane will be really interested to see how things progress.

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Speaker 1: Keeping contact with us let us know how it goes.

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Speaker 1: But we appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks mate, speak to you soon, no doubt.

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Speaker 1: Thank you,