Unions ends RI boycott

Unions ends RI boycott

SYDNEY (AFP): Australian dockers agreed Friday to call off their ban on Indonesian ships from midnight Saturday.

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) was reacting to a call from the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) to suspend their industrial boycott of Indonesia when peacekeepers arrive in East Timor.

But the union body warned in a statement the bans would be quickly reimposed if Indonesia failed to uphold its commitments to the United Nations in relation to the peacekeepers.

Australian unions have boycotted all commercial activity involving Indonesia for a week in protest at the killing of thousands of people in East Timor by army-backed militias.

The bans caused loading of three shiploads of wheat to Indonesia to be delayed and a build-up of containers and general cargo on ports around Australia.