Strikes hit again the ports of Western Australia (WA) and New South Wales (NSW) which has crippled wharf activities in NSW. In WA, the striking workers have been locked out indefinitely by management.

Stevedoring company POAGS locked out over 150 Bunbury and Fremantle port workers as the industrial dispute worsened. The Bunbury workers, who were not allowed in on Monday night, set up a picket line. After their legal strike over the weekend, the workers discovered that their access cards are no longer working.

With the worsening labor row, over 70 striking port workers may not receive any pay for Christmas, said Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) Bunbury delegate Dave Hughes. POAGS brought in outside workers, Mr Hughes said, although POAGS denied the claim.

However, in NSW, POAGS flew in non-union labour over picket lines at its Port Kembia operations.

The strike is over fatigue management plans, rostered days off, safety and a 6 per cent pay hike that the MUA is seeking in an ongoing enterprise agreement negotiation, which POAGS wants to trim to just 4 per cent.

According to Garry Keane of the MUA, there had been six waterfront deaths in the last five years which is why the union is pushing for more safety measures but it may be compromised by scabs.

"To bypass all of that, to fly people into an area, give them a 20-minute instruction before going into area where people have died in.... This isn't play land. This is serious industrial areas," Mr Keane told ABC Radio.

Warren Smith, assistant national secretary of MUA, pointed out that productivity in bulk and general stevedoring is a myth since such type of work is intensely productive. However, most of the workers find out the time and the type of task they would be performing only at 5 o'clock of the night before.

POAGS, which employs more than 1,600 workers at 28 ports across Australia, called on the MUA to end the strike and restart negotiations.

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