Traffic at Australia's ports could be crippled by as much as half as the nation's dock workers threaten a sweeping five-day strike over pay and conditions, officials said on Thursday.
The Maritime Union of Australia has vowed a national walk-out from Saturday of 2,000 wharf staff if top freight company Patrick do not come back with a 'serious offer' on wages and improved working conditions.
Dock workers want a six percent pay rise, 13 per cent pension contribution, a sign-on bonus and introduction of a safety officer for each shift following four deaths on the wharves in five years.
They won permission to strike from the industrial tribunal earlier this year if the stalemate could not be resolved.
Patrick, a subsidiary of the listed Asciano group, says the strike will bruise the economy as it tries to recover from massive flooding and cyclones and trade-exposed industries struggle with the surging Australian dollar.
'The cumulative effect of the nationwide stoppages the union plans is 33 vessels ... that's approximately 35,000 containers,' a Patrick spokesman told the AAP newswire.
The Maritime Union of Australia has vowed a national walk-out from Saturday of 2,000 wharf staff if top freight company Patrick do not come back with a 'serious offer' on wages and improved working conditions.
Dock workers want a six percent pay rise, 13 per cent pension contribution, a sign-on bonus and introduction of a safety officer for each shift following four deaths on the wharves in five years.
They won permission to strike from the industrial tribunal earlier this year if the stalemate could not be resolved.
Patrick, a subsidiary of the listed Asciano group, says the strike will bruise the economy as it tries to recover from massive flooding and cyclones and trade-exposed industries struggle with the surging Australian dollar.
'The cumulative effect of the nationwide stoppages the union plans is 33 vessels ... that's approximately 35,000 containers,' a Patrick spokesman told the AAP newswire.