WHARF workers are returning to full-time duties at ports across Australia after their union called off work restrictions that prompted stevedore Patrick to shut down operations.

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) said wharfies at the Port of Brisbane were xpected to head back to the ports at 3pm today.

Fremantle and Sydney port workers are already back on deck but a Patrick spokeswoman this morning said the company had received no formal revocation of the action and that full-time work at Sydney was not expected to resume until the evening shift started at 2pm.

The MUA had planned a week of work restrictions at Sydney, Brisbane and Fremantle after negotiations over a pay dispute stalled.

But the action was called off after Patrick refused to pay its workers for the work restriction days.

MUA officials met with members on Friday morning to encourage them to return to work, with National Secretary Paddy Crumlin describing it as "a tough sell".

"They have been hurt at the way the company treated them in the media, and are frustrated and angry," Mr Crumlin told AAP today.

Mr Crumlin also accused Patrick of running "megaphone diplomacy" and blamed the breakdown in negotiations on new management.

Patrick director Paul Garaty welcomed the workers’ decision to return to full-time work, but said they were no heroes.

"We are pleased that the union has recognised what they were doing to the importers and exporters of Australia," Mr Garaty said in a statement on Friday.

"Having held the importers and exporters in this country to ransom it appears the union want to be thought of as heroes for removing their own industrial action".

The planned strike action next week had the potential to cost local meatworkers lost hours if beef shipments from the John Dee Warwick abattoir continued to pile up.

John Dee spokesman Warren Stiff yesterday said shifts were all normal but warned if the strike dragged on it could have led to a suspension of the beef kill at Warwick’s largest employer.

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) this week launched industrial action against Patrick after the company threw out the union’s demand of an 18% wage increase over three years.

Around 130,000kg of Aussie beef was yesterday stranded at the Port of Brisbane alone waiting to be loaded onto ships.

John Dee Warwick sends an average of 30 containers of chilled beef for the Japanese and Korean markets every week, with Mr Stiff saying yesterday it was vital to “keep imports moving”.

Mr Stiff said yesterday he hoped a suspension of work would not be necessary.

“Having said that, we can’t just keep piling up loaded containers either in Warwick or at the Port," he said yesterday.

Mr Stiff said a limited number of powered container storage sites at the Port had hampering the situation along with conflicting advice about vessel movements.

Mr Stiff would not be drawn on his views on the current MUA action but said while it was “lawful” it had the potential to damage Australia’s trade reputation.

He also said the time John Dee beef spent on the quayside instead of at sea ate into its shelf-life, but that the best-before date for Japan was 77 days from production, with no stipulation for Korea.

Queensland graziers had warned that Japan could reject Australian beef if it has been sitting in coldrooms for more than 14 days, and any affected product would have to be dumped on the domestic market at a reduced price.

Cotton and grain exports were also being choked off by the MUA dispute along with meat.

The Australian Cotton Shippers Association said yesterday more than $22 million of product was being held up and supply contracts were in danger of being breached, on the back of floods and a late crop.

Dispute facts:

Six days of industrial action at the Port of Brisbane would have affected eight ships and 7150 containers.

Patrick had planned to apply to Fair Work Australia to force the MUA to end its strike and go back to the negotiating table, on the basis the strike would hurt the economy.

It proposes an annual 4% wage increase with the promise of an extra 1% if internationally recognised targets are met during a three-year enterprise agreement.

Patrick famously took on the MUA in 1998 dispute when it locked out its unionised workforce and replaced it with non-MUA labour.

The company said its employees currently worked 35 hours per week or 185 days per year, for an average salary of $100,000.