Morrison not ruling out sending in military to settle Patrick Terminals wharf strike while urging lawful resolution

Scott Morrison has accused maritime workers of “extortionate” pay claims, demanding their union ditch industrial action or face federal intervention.

On Tuesday Morrison ratcheted up the pressure on the Maritime Union of Australia by refusing to rule out sending in the military if required to settle the dispute at Patrick Terminals.

Morrison also suggested Australians could see 40 ships “out there” waiting to get into Port Botany, despite the company’s claim being based on ships as far afield as Christmas Island, New Caledonia and the Solomon Sea.

The Morrison government has already announced it will support the company’s bid to terminate industrial action in the Fair Work Commission, which will hear the case in Sydney on Wednesday and Thursday.

Related: Patrick Terminals tries to shut down wharf strikes as PM lashes maritime union

The Maritime Union of Australia has accused Patrick Terminals and the government of a “hysterical” response, noting it has already moderated its claims from a 6% pay rise for three years down to below 2.5%.

Although it originally sought 6% pay rises at major port operators Patrick, DP World and Hutchison, at the start of the pandemic the MUA offered to roll over existing conditions of work with a 2.5% pay rise to reach the other side of the Covid-19 crisis.

MUA Sydney branch secretary, Paul McAleer, told the Today show the union had won a 2.35% pay rise at DP World, which reached in principle agreement last Friday, and is “close” to a similar deal at Hutchison.

But when the MUA notified Patrick it intended to strike for 24 hours in Brisbane and Port Botany next Friday, the company launched a case to terminate all industrial actions.

Those strikes have since been withdrawn, but a win in the Fair Work Commission could force the union to stop overtime bans the company blames for taking 31% of its crane teams Australia-wide out of action, rising to 42% in Sydney.

The company claims it takes 20 days to find a berth at Port Botany, higher than Melbourne (10), Brisbane (9) and Fremantle (3). In all, 85,000 containers are waiting to be unloaded including 50,000 in Port Botany, it said.

Morrison told reporters in Canberra “we cannot have the militant end of the union movement effectively engaging in a campaign of extortion against the Australian people in the middle of a Covid-19 recession”. “This is just extraordinary, appalling behaviour.”

Morrison called on the Australian Council of Trade Unions to distance itself from the MUA.

“I want to assure Australians that we don’t take this lightly. It’s not on and we will take what steps are necessary to ensure that this can be brought, I think, to a more meaningful and swift conclusion.”

Asked if he could follow Labor Ben Chifley’s 1949 precedent of breaking up a coal strike with troops, Morrison replied: “I’m not going to pre-empt any of those sorts of things.”

Related: Industrial reforms at risk as talks between unions and employer groups break down

“We’re still at a stage where I think that sort of thing would hopefully be unnecessary and that it would never come to something like that.”

Asked if the waterfront could see a repeat of the 1998 waterfront dispute, in which Patrick locked out unionised workers to use a privatised workforce, Morrison said he would not get into hypotheticals.

“I’m imploring that there be a lawful resolution to this situation, because I can’t have Australians who need what’s on those ships being held up on those ships.

“There are 40 of them out there. You can go down to Port Botany or Kurnell and you can see them lining up and every single one of them lining up is being held back from Australians getting what they need in the middle of a recession.”

The union has rejected the claim 40 ships are waiting to be unloaded. Patrick’s own map shows the claim is based on ships as far afield as Christmas Island, New Caledonia, and the Solomon Sea off Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

On Tuesday the health minister, Greg Hunt, said the medicines shortage working group of the Therapy Goods Administration has reported delays.

The union says it offered to help prioritise ships carrying medical supplies, but Hunt countered that it was “false” to say there is no risk to supplies.

McAleer said the union is “not holding the country to ransom”.

“There [are] not dozens of vessels off the New South Wales coast. There [are] a couple of vessels waiting to come into Sydney and they will come alongside when the vessels leave.

“There [aren’t] 90,000 containers waiting to come. There [are] no extensive delays. And what we are seeing is just small delays.”

Labor leader Anthony Albanese said the government “should be playing a role in that rather than engaging in rhetoric for political purposes”.