Around 30 workers aboard an Australian ship are in lockdown following revelations they may be sacked and replaced by cheaper labour.
Workers on the Seakap, which docked in Newcastle this morning, have been told that their ship will finish service next month and be replaced by two foreign-flagged vessels with foreign crews.
The crew has locked down the ship and refused to carry out its final duties until its company, Koppers, offers workers jobs on a different vessel.
In a statement to Federal Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Anthony Albanese, the crew called for public support.
"We believe this blatant abuse of the single-voyage permit and multi-voyage permit systems is nothing less than an attack on Australian seafarers' rights to support Australian cargoes on the Australian coast," the statement said.
The national secretary of the Maritime Union Australia, Rick Newlyn, was in discussions with Koppers, based in Pittsburgh, US.
He said he expected a response on the Seakap crew's proposal later in the day.
"Our position and the crew's is that this is our occupation, this is our coast and we're looking for a new vessel to continue on within the trade and be Australian-manned," Mr Newlyn said.
"At the moment Australians can be set aside by foreign crews trading in Australian ports. It's bloody outrageous.
"The crew want an outcome that's open and transparent or they're not sailing from Newcastle.”
"They will lock it up, raise the gangways and that's it."
Mr Newlyn said the Australian shipping industry had "suffered years of neglect" under former Prime Minister John Howard.
The former Liberal government passed legislation allowing shipping companies to replace Australian crews with foreign workers on foreign-flagged vessels that could operate on the Australian coasts more cheaply.
"(This case) highlights the urgent need for the federal government to get serious and show their commitment to revitalising the Australian shipping industry," Mr Newlyn said.
"The crew want to know that this government is going to do something about it in the future so Australian jobs can't be sold to the cheapest labour forces in the world."
The MUA hopes for decisive action from the federal government when it hands down recommendations from its shipping review, which is expected in October this year.
