WORKERS at CBH Group’s Kwinana Grain Terminal yesterday kicked off the first round of protected industrial action, as enterprise agreement negotiations with the Western Australian grain handler remain at an impasse.

Plant operators and maintenance workers who are members of two unions being represented by the Maritime Union of Australia and the Electrical Trades Union backed a range of protected action in a ballot held last month.

The actions included work stoppages ranging in duration from one hour to several over a 28-day period, and bans on certain duties, such as unloading and loading wagons and trucks, and sampling activities.

A post published to the Maritime Union of Australia – WA Branch Facebook page confirmed the start of protected action yesterday, with intermittent work bans instituted across a range of duties.

“The members at CBH Kwinana have kicked off protected action today, starting with a range of work bans effecting unloading/loading of trains, trucks, and ships, along with various other operational and maintenance based tasks,” the post said.

MUA WA branch organiser Daniel Piccoli confirmed that yesterday’s round of protected action was only in effect for that day, but that more was planned for the site.

“There are more notified work bans and/or stoppages to take place over the coming days this week,” Mr Piccoli said.

According to the union, two meetings have been held since the protected action ballot, with the parties still no closer to reaching an agreement.

“While the bargaining committee and broader membership were not hopeful that CBH would suddenly come to the table with a great deal, there was an expectation that there would be at least some movement towards solving some of the large amount of claims still outstanding between the parties.

“It seems that the MUA was right to be pessimistic coming into these ongoing negotiations, as the two meetings ended up with little to no movement, with a new CBH counteroffer being laughably below the standard increases seen in the broader industry.”

Alone, the MUA has over 100 members at the terminal working across operations and maintenance.

It is unclear what impacts the work stoppages will have on CBH’s operations at the site, which is scheduled for a September 1-15 port maintenance shutdown.

The Kwinana Grain Terminal is WA’s largest grain-export facility, shipping more than half of the state’s total grain production on average each year.

CBH Group was contacted for comment.

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