A shipping company that services the iron ore sector in Western Australia's Pilbara says union plans to strike will hurt the national economy.
Teekay Shipping says the Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers (AIMPE) has given notice that its members intend to stop work for four hours from 6am on Wednesday.
It comes after 17 months of negotiations over tug boat engineers' wages between the company, AIMPE, the Australian Maritime Officers Union (AMOU) and the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA).
"Teekay is surprised and disappointed," the company said in a statement.
"It will have an impact not just on Teekay and its customers, but also on the Australian economy."
Teekay said the annual base salary for a tug boat engineer at Port Hedland was already about $220,000 for about 182 days' work.
