Linda Kelaart has been at the MUA protests outside Hutchison Ports’ Port Botany terminal most days. She told me her story and why standing up to Hutchison was important to her. Linda was sacked by the company in February for speaking out and joining the union.

She worked in the office and, like many, was promised a long-term job. But the company is “ruthless”, she said and told me a story to illustrate.  

“She was proactive, friendly, and hardworking”, Linda said, describing a receptionist she worked with for a year.  “She had a bad back. Because she couldn’t afford [a private surgeon], she went on a government hospital waiting list to get an operation. Finally, when she had an operation date, she approached HR for six weeks’ sick leave, and was willing to use up all her sick, annual and even unpaid leave … they immediately sacked her … they don’t care if people have bills to pay or families or mortgages.”

Constant harassment from management about women’s weight and appearance led Linda and another office co-worker to lodge a complaint with Hutchison’s parent company in Hong Kong. An investigation confirmed the veracity of their claims. This only made things worse.

“The situation was so uncomfortable that I was about to quit, but one of the maintenance boys got me to join the union”, she said. Management got wind of this and tried to stop the union’s influence in the office.

“The manager kept making me sit outside his office instead of near the maintenance guys, because they’re all in the MUA.” Some staff quit under the pressure but Linda decided to stay and fight.

After she joined the union, others began talking to her, complaining about 12-hour shifts with no extra pay. “About 12 office staff joined the MUA”, she said.

Before they sacked her, Linda was given a deadline to set up new software. “The very last week I finished training the last person on the new software, they sacked me”, she said. “They literally sacked me that day. They used me up and spat me out.” 

Asked why she believes she was sacked, Linda said that it was because she spoke up. “If you’re being bullied or your colleagues are, you’re supposed to shut up and put up with it”, she said. “Second, and most important, I think it’s because I joined the union and got others in the office to join.”

The experience has been life changing. Having been through the dispute, Linda says she’s found new purpose. She had never been a union member before but now she sees nothing as more important.