Work Arrangements in Container Stevedoring

Research Issues

1 Background

The waterfront, the interface between sea and land transport, is critical to Australia's overseas and domestic trade. Stevedoring is an important industry because of its effect on the cost and timeliness of the transport of imported and exported goods. Ultimately it affects the price of these goods in Australia and overseas.

There have been a number of reports and papers which have identified opportunities to improve performance on the waterfront and highlighted the benefits of reform (for example, BIE 1995, BTCE 1995, HRSCTCI 1992 and ISC 1989). This study will identify opportunities at the workplace for improving stevedoring work arrangements and the way labour is organised which would benefit the economy as a whole.

2 Scope

Only stevedoring services will be examined in this project, and particularly the core functions of stevedores - the loading and unloading of ships, and the loading and unloading of freight of land transport operators servicing the wharf. The primary emphasis will be on container terminal operations.

Work arrangements are defined broadly to include the way work is performed and the conditions attached to that work. They may relate to either workers or management, and be formal (arrangements specified in awards and agreements) or informal (custom, practice). This study will focus on the benefits and costs of work arrangements relating to:

remuneration (eg penalty rates, bonus schemes);
rostering (eg length of shifts, order of pick, notification provisions);
workforce (eg gang size, recruitment, use of casuals, contracting out);
communication, management, and workplace culture (eg type and extent of communication between management and employees, supervision arrangements); and
hours paid but not worked (eg number and length of breaks, shift extensions, vessel delays, training).

The performance of a stevedoring workplace may be measured in a variety of ways, including profitability, productivity (maximising outputs relative to inputs) and service delivery (for example, minimising cargo damage and timely delivery of goods to customers).

This project is adopting a case study approach, and information gained from responses to this Research Issues Brief, and other sources, will provide input into analysing the effects of different work arrangements.

3 Issues

Work arrangements are only one of several factors which affect the workplace performance of stevedoring firms. Other factors include the quality of management, the quality and amount of equipment, and the commitment of employees and management. The achievement of social objectives, such as the quality of working life and assuring worker safety, also affects the determination and application of work arrangements and workplace performance.

Issues seen as central to this study include:

variations in work arrangements, both formal and informal, between stevedores and between specific workplaces. Variations may occur over time and be affected by a range of factors, such as technological change and changing management or union approaches;
the benefits and costs of work arrangements to: stevedores (focusing on workplace performance); employees and their families; shipping lines; importers and exporters; other operators on the waterfront; and the wider community; and
barriers (consistent with social goals) to introducing improved work arrangements.

3.1 Variations in work arrangements

Formal arrangements, which are conditions specified in awards and enterprise agreements, vary between workplaces as do informal arrangements - that is, other non-formalised work arrangements which operate in the workplace.

To what extent, and how, do formal work arrangements relating to remuneration, rostering etc. vary between stevedores, and between workplaces for a particular stevedore?
How significant are informal arrangements? That is, to what extent does the work arrangement set out in the award or agreement differ from what is actually undertaken at the workplace?
Do informal arrangements vary significantly between stevedores and between workplaces for a particular stevedore?
What have been recent major changes to formal and informal work arrangements? Have these changes been widespread through the stevedoring industry or specific to particular stevedores or workplaces?
What factors, both internal and external to the workplace, result in formal and informal work arrangements changing over time?

3.2 Benefits and costs of work arrangements

Particular work arrangements, or changes to work arrangements, may have a positive impact on workplace performance - for example, in terms of productivity, profitability and/or service quality. The BTCE (1995) noted that the structure of overtime payments appeared to reduce incentives to increase hourly crane rates, and constraints on the use of casual labour added to stevedoring costs. Manning levels were also considered to affect costs, timeliness and reliability of stevedoring services.

However, the benefits and costs of particular work arrangements to the stevedore is only one part of the picture. Work arrangements also impose benefits and costs on a range of other organisations and individuals connected to stevedoring activities, for example, the employees, shipping lines, transport companies, and importers and exporters.

A work arrangement may benefit everyone, or it may benefit one party while imposing costs on another party. For example, benefits from using more casual labour may include cost savings and workplace performance gains for the stevedore, additional jobs and earnings for casual employees, and lower stevedoring charges for importers and exporters. However, such a reform may impose costs on permanent employees if they receive lower overtime payments and may lead to a reduced number of permanent employees. Other factors to weigh might include fatigue, risk of accident or injury, availability of leisure time and impact on family life.

For stevedores, what are the benefits and costs of particular work arrangements to workplace performance? Please indicate the extent to which these work arrangements affect workplace performance. Are these work arrangements formal or informal?
For stevedore employees and others involved with stevedoring services (such as shipping lines, freight forwarders, transport companies and AQIS), what are the benefits and costs of particular work arrangements to you? How significant are these benefits and costs? Please give examples and indicate whether the work arrangements are formal or informal.
Which current work arrangements, if modified, would leadto significant improvements in workplace performance? Identify, and where possible estimate, the likely benefits and costs to each affected party of changing each work arrangement?

3.3 Barriers to introducing improved work arrangements

Barriers to change may be institutional, or formal, in nature (for example industrial relations legislation, award conditions) or they may be less formal (for example, worker or management attitude, practices and culture).

Are there any factors that make it difficult or time consuming to introduce particular work arrangements or even prevent their introduction? If so, describe these factors.
Do these factors vary in nature or intensity between work arrangements, between workplaces within a stevedoring company, and across stevedores?
Which factors or restrictions are formal and which are informal?
Are all the conditions in recent awards or enterprise agreements appropriate to current circumstances? If not, what were the reasons for their original inclusion in awards or agreements? Why haven't inappropriate conditions been bargained away?
What are the reasons behind any informal barriers to change that you have identified? When and why did management or workers adopt these informal rules? Briefly, what is the history behind such workplace attitudes?
What effect will the Commonwealth Government's recent Workplace Relations Act have on barriers to particular work arrangements?

References

BIE (Bureau of Industry Economics) 1995, International Benchmarking: Waterfront 1995, Report 95/16, AGPS, Canberra.

BTCE (Bureau of Transport and Communications Economics) 1995, Review of the Waterfront Industry Reform Program, Report 91, AGPS, Canberra.

HRSCTCI (House of Representatives Standing Committee on Transport, Communications and Infrastructure) 1992, Efficiency of the Interface between Sea Ports and Land Transport: Warehouse to Wharf, (P. Morris, Chairman), AGPS, Canberra.

ISC (Inter-State Commission) 1989, Waterfront Investigation: Conclusions and Recommendations, vols. 1 and 2, AGPS, Canberra.