A bus load of protesters have arrived at Sydney's Port Botany to join a picket line by port workers sacked in a late-night text message and email.
The frail voices of the Maritime Union of Australia Veterans grew louder as they marched to join hundreds of workers who greeted them at the gates with chants and cheers.
Sacked and employed workers continued a fifth day of industrial action against Hutchison Ports Australia after 97 of the company's 224 dock workers were told on Thursday night that their employment had ended.
Peter Licari says he thought his wife was joking about the email that said he had been sacked.
"I didn't believe her," the father-of-three told reporters in Port Botany on Wednesday.
"I'm not coping too well at the moment.
"The lack of humanity was jaw-dropping to me."
An unwavering picket line, that has stopped trucks from entering the complex, has kept the 45-year-old's spirits up.
A variety of unions, wives of workers and retirees have come from across NSW to protest against Hutchison's actions in defiance of the Fair Work Commission's order to cease picketing.
Former wharfie Bill Highfield, 74, joined a bus load of retirees in the veteran branch of the MUA to show support.
"It reminds me of the old days when you're just labour fodder," he told AAP.
"That's no way to treat workers... the way they do it, not with normal negotiations or natural attrition."
Hutchison Ports has said the job cuts are part of a move to downsize and are due to financial losses.
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