Stevedoring Industry Award

This award has a specialised employment structure. Payroll errors usually start when employers treat all wharf workers as if they were one standard category.

• Choose the employment category before work starts: full-time, guaranteed wage or casual.
• If using a guaranteed wage arrangement, define the guaranteed minimum or average number of full shifts, or the equivalent payment, in line with clause 10.1.
• If using casuals, remember the award gives a minimum payment of one shift on a day worked and separates casual loading from overtime treatment.

Grades under this award are skill and function-based. They are not interchangeable labels that can be moved around for convenience.

• Match the employee to the grade descriptors in Schedule A rather than to a vessel roster or short-term labour need.
• Grade 1 is induction and initial training. Grade 2 is the general operational level. Grades 3 and 4 cover higher functions identified in Schedule A and the award extract.
• If a downward re-grade is being considered, follow the written notice, opportunity to recover, and dispute pathway in clause 12.2.

The ordinary hours settings are tighter than many awards. A change in start time or shift type can change the legal pay treatment.

• Full-time ordinary hours average 35 per week under clause 13.1.
• Day work is worked between 7.00 am and 5.00 pm Monday to Friday under clause 13.2.
• Shiftwork has defined shift types, a normal shift length of 7 hours unless otherwise agreed, and special rules about moving from one type of shift to another.
• Where 12 hour shifts are introduced, the ordinary hours average must still remain within the award framework.

Stevedoring payroll often goes wrong on the extras rather than the base rate. Allowances and shift premiums need a deliberate review.

• Check whether all-purpose allowances such as electrician's licence or specialist functions apply, because they affect later calculations.
• Review first aid and leading hand obligations separately instead of assuming the base rate covers them.
• When work falls outside ordinary arrangements, move through overtime, double header and penalty provisions together.
• Do not assume incidental clerical work alone creates the specialist functions allowance, because the clause draws a narrower line.

Operational pressure is high in stevedoring, but the award still expects employers to document flexibility and handle after-hours contact lawfully.

• After-hours vessel work and unpredictable shipping movements do not remove the statutory right to disconnect.
• Clause 13A makes the right visible within the award, and clause 7.2 identifies the facilitative provisions that require agreement before they are used.
• Keep any agreed roster or overtime flexibility within the clause that authorises it.

This award rewards disciplined payroll review around vessel cycles. A static payroll template is risky in a highly variable operation.

• Review pay cycle by pay cycle where vessel patterns change, because ordinary hours, overtime and penalty treatment may shift with the roster.
• Keep allowances separately identifiable and do not roll them invisibly into broad pay categories.
• Check casual and guaranteed wage settings whenever labour is called up at short notice.

PR799280, PR799333, PR799490

The current consolidated award incorporates these recent variation determinations. Use the consolidated wording when checking any affected clause, schedule, rate or allowance.

Affected: 16 - Minimum rates, 18 - Allowances, Schedule B - Summary of Monetary Allowances, Schedule D - Supported Wage System