The wharfies' union has embarked on an 11th-hour court battle to block Hutchison Ports from following through with the text-message sacking of nearly 100 Australian workers.
The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) asked the Federal Court on Thursday for an injunction "restraining the respondents from proceeding with the termination of the employees who were notified ... that they would be terminated on the 14th of August".
The sackings - delivered by text message and email late last Thursday - have triggered lengthy blockades at the company's port facilities in Brisbane and Sydney.
The MUA, which filed court documents on Wednesday, is alleging Hutchinson breached its enterprise agreement by failing to adequately consult workers before the redundancies and ignoring a dispute resolution clause.
It is seeking an injunction, plus penalties and damages for the workers.
A lawyer for the union has told the court the workers are "ready, willing and able" to re-take their posts.
"They would attend work. If the employer didn't require them to carry out any work that might be a different matter," he said, adding that in that case the workers should be allowed to "stand by".
NSW Ports Minister Duncan Gay has told reporters Hutchison only accounted for about three per cent of the state's freight movements, and the ongoing blockade at Port Botany in Sydney was having little state-wide impact.
"At this stage no ships have been held up," Mr Gay said earlier on Thursday.
But he said he had sympathy for the workers, and the way in which they learned they were about to lose their jobs.
"It is an issue ... being let off by a text is not an appropriate way to be let off," Mr Gay said.
The court hearing continues.
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