Patrick Terminals & Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) Announce Historic Enterprise Agreement Roll-Over

Wednesday, April 9, 2025

Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) and the Australian Peak Shippers Association (APSA) have received notice of a significant industrial development, with Patrick Terminals announcing a historic enterprise agreement roll-over with the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and its workforce.

Importantly, this agreement was negotiated well in advance of the previous agreement's expiry date of 31 December 2025, and will now extend Patrick's Enterprise Agreement (EBA) through to 31 December 2028—providing an additional three years of industrial certainty across all four Patrick container terminals.

Patrick Terminals CEO, Michael Jovicic, welcomed the agreement, stating:

"This historic agreement roll-over provides a strong foundation for the future, ensuring stability for our employees and certainty for our customers in an increasingly dynamic global environment. As a trusted Australian container terminal operator, we remain committed to delivering resilient and reliable services to our quayside and landside customers."

This agreement represents a major step toward national stability across Australia's key container gateways in what is shaping up to be a bumper year for enterprise bargaining, with agreements at Victoria International Container Terminal (VICT), Flinders Adelaide Container Terminal, and Hutchison Ports Australia either recently expired or due for expiry in 2025.

With so many key agreements in motion across major terminals, this early outcome at Patrick delivers a welcome injection of stability and certainty for shippers, transport operators, and the broader logistics sector.

On the union front, MUA WA branch provided detailed commentary on key outcomes for their members. Highlights of the agreement, as shared by the MUA WA Branch, include:

$2,000 sign-on bonus
Wage increases over three years:
- 3.25% or CPI (whichever is higher) on 1 Jan 2026 and 1 Jan 2027
- 3.5% or CPI (whichever is higher) on 1 Jan 2028
Superannuation increase to 12.5% from 1 July 2025, remaining 0.5% above the statutory rate
Ban on compulsory redundancies due to automation
Prohibition on contracting out existing work
Payout of sick leave on termination
Increase in Protect contributions to 2.25%
Shift and roster enhancements, including certainty on evening shifts and voluntary transition to day-only
Introduction of an overtime points system
Commitment to resolve key outstanding maintenance matters

MUA WA noted that combined with wage increases from the prior EBA, this deal will see Patrick members achieve a cumulative 35% increase in salaries across a seven-year period, alongside improvements in conditions, rostering, and job security.

The agreement will now be submitted to the Fair Work Commission for formal approval.

Resources

For Patrick's official media release, click here.
For MUA WA commentary, click here.

FTA/APSA will continue to monitor developments across the broader container terminal network and remain engaged with key stakeholders as other enterprise agreements reach their respective milestones.