Stevedoring Award.

Stevedoring Industry Award 2020 (MA000053) covers stevedoring, container and cargo terminals, ship loading and unloading, wharf-side cargo storage. Common roles include lashing, unlashing and container packing, straddle carrier, fork-lift and crane operation, cargo clerical and planning work, wharf security and first aid. Full-time hours are 35 a week (clause 13.1(a)), and the award sets the hourly rate as the weekly rate divided by 35 (clause 16.2). Grade 1 is $978.10 a week, below the National Minimum Wage weekly figure, and $27.95 an hour. There is no part-time employment: you are full-time, guaranteed wage (guaranteed a minimum or average number of full shifts each week, clause 10.1) or casual (clause 8.1). A guaranteed wage employee accrues NES leave on the hours actually worked (clause 10.2). Penalties turn on the shift and the day (clause 23.2). Day shift is 100% Monday to Friday, 200% on Saturday and 250% on Sunday. Evening shift is 150% Monday to Friday, 200% on Saturday and 250% on Sunday. Night shift is 200% Sunday to Friday and 250% on Saturday, so a Saturday night pays more than a Sunday night. A day worker's ordinary hours are 7.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday (clause 13.2), so their weekend work is overtime at 200% on a Saturday and 250% on a Sunday (clause 21.3). The public holiday rate is not settled for day workers. Clause 30.2 sends public holiday work to clause 21.3(a) or 21.5(b). For a shiftworker, clause 21.5(b) gives 250% on a day or evening shift and 300% on a night shift. For a day worker, clause 21.3(a) is the Monday to Saturday overtime rate of 200%, while clause 21.3(b) names public holidays at 250%. The award does not say which applies, so check with the Fair Work Ombudsman before relying on either figure. Casuals get a 25% loading on each ordinary hour (clause 11.2), and the award prints casual overtime rates that compound the loading, such as 250% for a casual day worker Monday to Saturday and 312.5% on a Sunday or public holiday (clause 21.4). It states no casual rate for weekend, shift or public holiday ordinary hours, so we publish none. Annual leave loading is 27.5% (clause 24.6(b)), and an employee engaged in the industry on 25 November 1991 keeps an extra week of annual leave (clause 24.3). There is no rostered day off system. An employee directed to report on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday is paid at least 7 hours (clause 23.3(c)). Unused personal/carer's leave is paid out on death, retirement, redundancy, resignation after 10 years' service, or acceptance as totally or permanently disabled (clause 25.2). Maintenance contractors covered by the Manufacturing Award or the Electrical Contracting Award are excluded (clause 4.3(b)).

Full-time and guaranteed wage employees are paid 200% of the base hourly rate (2.00x) for working on Saturday. Casuals receive a rate this award does not state, so check the FWO pay calculator for your classification. Not every Saturday hour is paid at that rate: Night shift on a Saturday, starting at or after 10.00pm, 250%, with no casual rate stated (clause 23.2(h)).

Full-time and guaranteed wage employees are paid 250% of the base hourly rate (2.50x) for Sunday work. Casuals receive a rate this award does not state, so check the FWO pay calculator for your classification. Not every Sunday hour is paid at that rate: Night shift on a Sunday, starting at or after 10.00pm, 200%, with no casual rate stated (clause 23.2(g), which pays night shift 200% from Sunday to Friday).

There is no single rate. Clause 30.2 pays public holiday work under clause 21.3(a) or 21.5(b). A shiftworker gets 250% on a day or evening shift and 300% on a night shift (clause 21.5(b)). For a day worker, clause 21.3(a) is 200% while clause 21.3(b) names public holidays at 250%, and the award does not say which applies, so check with the Fair Work Ombudsman before relying on either figure. Casuals receive a rate this award does not state, so check the FWO pay calculator for your classification. Employees who don't work the holiday receive their ordinary day's pay if it would otherwise have been a working day.

Standard full-time employees get 4 weeks of paid annual leave per year under the NES. An employee who is available to work on any shift Monday to Sunday and who actually attends for work as required from time to time on both Saturday and Sunday is a shiftworker for the NES annual leave provisions and gets a 5th week (clause 24.2). There is no 24 hour, 7 day roster test. Their excessive leave accrual threshold is 10 weeks instead of 8 (clause 24.10(a)). The 5-week entitlement comes from NES s.87(1)(b), which the Stevedoring Award classifies eligibility for. Calculate annual leave accrual →

Day workers get a flat 27.5%. Shift workers get the same flat 27.5%. The 27.5% is calculated on the pay for your ordinary hours at your ordinary hourly rate, which includes the all-purpose electrician's licence and specialist functions allowances where you receive them (clauses 2, 18.2(a) and 24.6). Leave loading calculator →

25% on top of the base hourly rate, paid in place of entitlements a casual does not get, such as paid annual leave and paid personal/carer's leave. This award does not state a casual rate for every penalty, so the penalty table shows no casual figure for those hours rather than a guess.

No. The Stevedoring Award does not include a formal RDO accrual cycle. Time off in lieu of overtime (TOIL) may still be available where the employer and employee agree, but it works differently from a formal RDO and is not automatically accrued.

Yes. Under this award, evening work on a shift starting between 1.00pm and 5.00pm, Monday to Friday attracts 150% of the base hourly rate (1.50x); night-shift work attracts 200% of the base hourly rate (2.00x). Night shift is 200% from Sunday to Friday but 250% on a Saturday (clause 23.2(g) and (h)), and 300% on a public holiday (clauses 30.2 and 21.5(b)(iv)). For casuals, the penalty table shows no casual shift rate for this award: see the coverage notes.

The Fair Work Commission reviews award minimum rates each year in the Annual Wage Review. The rates on this page took effect from 1 July 2026. The official source is the FWO Pay Calculator, which always reflects the current rates. Open the FWO Pay Calculator →