Union and Patrick to resume negotiations

SYDNEY — Australian wharves were returning to normal Friday, after dock workers called off work bans that had prompted some port operations to shut down and had threatened to hurt exporters.

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) said employees at Sydney's port Botany had gone back to work Friday and those in Brisbane would return later in the day. Workers in Fremantle were to vote on the matter later Friday.

The development comes after Patrick Stevedores decided to shut down ports where the union had imposed work restrictions, which included bans on overtime and which were to last about one week.

The dispute follows months of negotiations over pay and safety conditions.

"Patrick has chosen to escalate this dispute by unilaterally closing down its container terminals, which was never intended by the MUA," the union's national secretary Paddy Crumlin said.

The MUA said it would consult with Patrick to resolve the dispute.

"Patrick owns the decision to shut down the ports but in any event the union has determined that work should resume in an effort to undo the damage of Patrick's decisions," MUA deputy national Secretary Mick Doleman said.

We've rejected their written offer for arbitration earlier this week, we're inviting them back to the negotiating table," the spokesman told AAP.

"We're certainly optimistic that they'll be back at the negotiating table, we would think hopefully next week.

The MUA had planned a week of work restrictions in the three states from Wednesday after negotiations over a pay dispute stalled.

But the action was called off after Patrick refused to pay its workers for the work restriction days and denied them access to the wharfs.

Union officials met with members on Friday morning to encourage them to return to work, with national secretary Paddy Crumlin describing it as "a tough sell".

"They have been hurt at the way the company treated them in the media, and are frustrated and angry," Mr Crumlin told AAP.

Mr Crumlin also accused Patrick of running "megaphone diplomacy" and blamed the breakdown in negotiations on new management.

A spokeswoman for Patrick said that any agreement reached would need to include productivity offsets.

"We've been negotiating now for eight months, there's been in excess of 25 meetings, we are hopeful and optimistic that (we) will reach an outcome," the spokeswoman said.

"At this point we believe that the company and Maritime Union obviously remain some way apart."

The union has not accepted Patrick's offer of a four per cent pay rise over three years with an additional one per cent annually if "internationally recognised safety, productivity and efficiency targets" are met.

The work bans commenced on Australian wharves Wednesday, and an industry body said it had already begun to slow down some container ships or force them to consider diverting to New Zealand.

Shipping Australia said disruption on the docks could not have come at a worse time given exporters were already battling against a soaring Aussie dollar and given economic uncertainty in Europe and Japan.