The Riddler
5th Jun 2005, 00:26
Airports 'are the new wharves'
The Australian 05/06/05
Unions are being blamed for a culture of control said to render security at the country's major airport useless, report Martin Chulov and David King
June 04, 2005
AT the end of one of his most turbulent weeks as tsar of Sydney airport, Max Moore-Wilton turned his mind to the past.
"I was once part of a team that helped break the painters and dockers," the former government powerbroker said. "And, believe me, it was not a pleasant experience."
Back then, wharves were the primary entry point into Australia. They were honeypots for criminals drawn by easy pickings -- and ease of access.
Now it is the airports that receive the bulk of light cargo and people in ever-increasing numbers. In the 12 months to last July, Sydney airport processed 26.4million passengers, who came and went on 266,745 planes.
Those familiar with the era, in which the Painters and Dockers Union ran organised criminal networks on the waterfront, claim Sydney airport has become the new domain for smuggling goods and pilfering.
The now subsumed union ruled the waterfront with a ruthless eye for opportunity. And it forged its influence in a security vacuum.
According to a classified Customs report, detailed in The Australian this week, Customs staff fear that a stranglehold over the 62,000 workers at Sydney airport by the Transport Workers Union has led to a climate ripe for exploitation.
Customs complains that its monitoring of workers in sensitive airside areas is being blocked by the heavily unionised environment in which restrictive work practices render security ineffective. There are at least seven categories of workers with secure airside access -- baggage handlers, cleaners, trolley workers, ramp workers, truck drivers,air crews and security screeners. Each has tightly demarcated roles and staunch control over its work environments.
The report said that with a "very strong unionised presence on the tarmac area, and the ever-threatening intervention of union delegates in matters arising between the Australian Customs Service and the tarmac/airline employees, the area surrounding the basement and employees with access to aircraft is one which is fraught with controversy".
Not so, says the TWU, which represents the group of workers most under the spotlight, baggage handlers.
"If anyone, the Government or businesses, has any concerns about obstructions to security, they have never raised it with us, " said TWU spokesman Nimrod Nyols. "For the past four years baggage handlers have been pointing out problems with airport security."
Qantas was also circumspect, saying strong union representation among its workforce had not caused security problems.
Mr Moore-Wilton, however, urged caution. "Having worked on the wharves in the past, you just have to keep up to the mark because the people out there that make lots and lots of money from breaking the law are always thinking up new ways to do it," he said.
Other senior figures in the aviation and port industries, who did not want to be identified, say the similarities between the wharves of a bygone era and today's airports are stronger than acknowledged.
"The airports are the new wharves -- it is an exact analogy," said one source. "There was no theft on the waterfront while the MUA (Maritime Union of Australia) was there in charge of security. But when it was contracted out, suddenly higher rates were detected."
But Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister John Anderson, asked yesterday for his view, strongly dismissed the suggestion.
"I honestly don't believe that," he told The Weekend Australian. "Until 1998 there was no security backgrounding at our air or sea ports. There were people working on the wharves with serious criminal records and even war records from Europe.
"The re-issuing of (secure access) cards and the stringent screening behind them really did see to that."
Mr Moore-Wilton said this week's revelations will prove a turning point for aviation security. "Sydney airport can't put its head in the sand and say this will blow over. It won't blow over. What has happened at Sydney airport can also happen at other airports if the system is not right."
The Australian 05/06/05
Unions are being blamed for a culture of control said to render security at the country's major airport useless, report Martin Chulov and David King
June 04, 2005
AT the end of one of his most turbulent weeks as tsar of Sydney airport, Max Moore-Wilton turned his mind to the past.
"I was once part of a team that helped break the painters and dockers," the former government powerbroker said. "And, believe me, it was not a pleasant experience."
Back then, wharves were the primary entry point into Australia. They were honeypots for criminals drawn by easy pickings -- and ease of access.
Now it is the airports that receive the bulk of light cargo and people in ever-increasing numbers. In the 12 months to last July, Sydney airport processed 26.4million passengers, who came and went on 266,745 planes.
Those familiar with the era, in which the Painters and Dockers Union ran organised criminal networks on the waterfront, claim Sydney airport has become the new domain for smuggling goods and pilfering.
The now subsumed union ruled the waterfront with a ruthless eye for opportunity. And it forged its influence in a security vacuum.
According to a classified Customs report, detailed in The Australian this week, Customs staff fear that a stranglehold over the 62,000 workers at Sydney airport by the Transport Workers Union has led to a climate ripe for exploitation.
Customs complains that its monitoring of workers in sensitive airside areas is being blocked by the heavily unionised environment in which restrictive work practices render security ineffective. There are at least seven categories of workers with secure airside access -- baggage handlers, cleaners, trolley workers, ramp workers, truck drivers,air crews and security screeners. Each has tightly demarcated roles and staunch control over its work environments.
The report said that with a "very strong unionised presence on the tarmac area, and the ever-threatening intervention of union delegates in matters arising between the Australian Customs Service and the tarmac/airline employees, the area surrounding the basement and employees with access to aircraft is one which is fraught with controversy".
Not so, says the TWU, which represents the group of workers most under the spotlight, baggage handlers.
"If anyone, the Government or businesses, has any concerns about obstructions to security, they have never raised it with us, " said TWU spokesman Nimrod Nyols. "For the past four years baggage handlers have been pointing out problems with airport security."
Qantas was also circumspect, saying strong union representation among its workforce had not caused security problems.
Mr Moore-Wilton, however, urged caution. "Having worked on the wharves in the past, you just have to keep up to the mark because the people out there that make lots and lots of money from breaking the law are always thinking up new ways to do it," he said.
Other senior figures in the aviation and port industries, who did not want to be identified, say the similarities between the wharves of a bygone era and today's airports are stronger than acknowledged.
"The airports are the new wharves -- it is an exact analogy," said one source. "There was no theft on the waterfront while the MUA (Maritime Union of Australia) was there in charge of security. But when it was contracted out, suddenly higher rates were detected."
But Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister John Anderson, asked yesterday for his view, strongly dismissed the suggestion.
"I honestly don't believe that," he told The Weekend Australian. "Until 1998 there was no security backgrounding at our air or sea ports. There were people working on the wharves with serious criminal records and even war records from Europe.
"The re-issuing of (secure access) cards and the stringent screening behind them really did see to that."
Mr Moore-Wilton said this week's revelations will prove a turning point for aviation security. "Sydney airport can't put its head in the sand and say this will blow over. It won't blow over. What has happened at Sydney airport can also happen at other airports if the system is not right."