PWCS general manager Graham Davidson said the company was seeking at least 30 voluntary redundancies but had at least 80 employees aged over 55 it was prepared to let go under a new early retirement scheme.

Mr Davidson said he hoped to have a new enterprise agreement before the end of August.

"We need to tighten our game to handle the challenges ahead," Mr Davidson said yesterday.

"We are hoping that a new agreement initiated under the Federal Government's Fair Work Act will give us the operational and staffing efficiencies that have been lacking at PWCS over the past 20 years.

"Also, the arrival of Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group [which is building the new coal loader at Kooragang] represents competition for us, heightening the need for industrial relations reform."

PWCS employs 437 people at its two sites, with 256 of these people being union members engaged in coal-loading operations.

The remaining 181 people are office staff or involved in the expansion of PWCS's Kooragang operation.

Under the three-year agreement put to the company's single bargaining unit yesterday, PWCS is proposing wage increases of 4 per cent, 3 per cent and 3 per cent.

Incentives to end "restrictive work practices" include sign-up bonuses of up to $18,000 an employee.

Maritime Union of Australia Newcastle secretary Jim Boyle said the document tabled by PWCS was "only the first step" in the negotiating process.

He agreed that relations between the union and the company were better than they had been but the maritime union would be doing everything in its power to protect the jobs and conditions of its members.