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TRADE UNIONS have accused major Australian mining company BHP of initiating “a race to the bottom” over its decision to sack 80 seafarers.
The International Transport Federation (ITF) branded plans to replace workers with a foreign crew on flag of convenience (FoC) ships “an alarming use of legal loopholes,” calling on BHP to reverse the decision.
It would see an end to more than 100 years of an Australian-crewed iron ore shipping service from Port Hedland in Western Australia to steelworks in Port Kembla and to China.
ITF seafarers’ section chair Dave Heindel said the seafarers have been left “high and dry” by the decision which “destroys one of the oldest national domestic shipping supply chains in Australia.”
BHP annually charters around 1,500 vessels, the majority of which are FoC ships with many not covered by ITF agreements leaving seafarers exposed to exploitation.
ITF spokesman James Given warned: “As a leader in the global transport and logistics industry and a participant in the UN Global Compact initiative, there is an expectation that BHP sets positive trends and does not promote a race to the bottom for the transport of its product in domestic and international trade.”
