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Permalink Reply by Bill Gardner on September 6, 2009 at 8:24pm

Do you have much choice if you want to work offshore Oz- its the MUA. A little background. At the outset PDAA V Divcon after 28 day strike of Bass Strait Divers over pay & conditions (two tier pay - 1 rate for Australians differing rate for x-pat USA divers) 1st arbitration award oct 5/69 to divers. May 1 70 Mike Chorinski killed in an decompressionm incident on the Vic Tide. Safety meetings, shake ups, Ocean Systems fires all of its divers. Affiliation with the AWU got employment/membership & registration serious. To work Bass Strait I joined PDAA Membership#152. There were at any one time 150 members offshore + another 200 associates/ or out of country members. It was possible then to have a very involved active participatory membership, since The MUA absorbed the PDAA I hadn't felt that same involvement on the divers side regardless of some handsome awards secured over the years. Yes you needed a union-still need a union, but now its`sort of somebody elses union. My opinion only, regards Bill Gardner