The Maritime Union of New Zealand and International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) are investigating a shipjumping incident in Dunedin where nine Indonesian seafarers left the fishing trawler Marinui on Friday 10 March.

ITF New Zealand co-ordinator Kathy Whelan says the Union has been in touch with the Ministry of Immigration about the case, and ITF representatives will try to speak to the fishermen at Auckland Airport before they are sent home tomorrow.

She says she is extremely concerned about the increasing numbers of foreign seafarers leaving their vessels in New Zealand ports, in this case claiming they were subjected to 24 hour shifts with no breaks, two hour sleep breaks, and physical abuse.

Mr Hanson says the Maritime Union and the International Transport Workers Federation, as well as the Council of Trade Unions, were recently given assurances by the Minister of Immigration that problems in the fishing industry would be fixed.

“We want to get the real facts on the matter, as we are always seeing these shipjumping workers spirited out of the country before the matter is properly investigated.”

He says the Maritime Union position is that the employment of overseas fishermen in New Zealand waters needs to be closely monitored and regulated by New Zealand Immigration officials in their country of origin.

“This is the only way to make sure these exploited workers are employed on proper terms and conditions at New Zealand market rates with proper employment agreements, and that they are not subject to corrupt practices like having to pay ‘fees’ for their job.”

For further information contact:

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson on 04 801 7614 or 021 390585

ITF New Zealand Co-ordinator Kathy Whelan on 04 801 7613 or 021 666405

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The Maritime Union says that action must be taken to protect both local jobs and overseas workers in New Zealand industries after recent comments from Opposition immigration spokesperson Lockwood Smith about overseas workers caused an uproar.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says a progressive downward pressure on wages, conditions and local jobs is spreading throughout large areas of the New Zealand economy, including the horticulture and viticulture sector.

“We are very aware of this problem in the fishing industry and with flag of convenience shipping, and also with attempts to displace waterfront labour.”

He says the use of cross-border, short-term labour sourced from ultra-low wage economies is a major threat to workers in New Zealand and around the world.

“This system is being used by employers and Governments around the world as part of free trade to generate profits regardless of the effect on workers and society.”

Mr Hanson says the recent comments by National Party immigration spokesperson Lockwood Smith about overseas workers in the horticulture and viticulture industry showed a disturbing attitude.

“There is no doubt that there is a divide and rule approach by employers which will be promoted by the National Party, who obviously see these overseas workers as production units who are not entitled to either dignity or good treatment.”

Mr Hanson says employment agreements for overseas workers need to be prepared and signed before they come to New Zealand.

“Any employer who requires imported labour should be required to allow inspection of accommodation and conditions, agree to a 30-hour minimum payment and offer pay above minimum rates to skilled workers, prior to approval to bring workers in.”

Unions should be directly involved from the start of any application to ensure that these workers are provided with rights and protections.

Mr Hanson says the same system should apply to the fishing industry.

“Over the last generation, a huge numbers of foreign workers having been employed in New Zealand waters with the promises of training being dismissed by some New Zealand fishing companies.”

“There needs to be regulations that provide young New Zealand workers with training and a pathway to a career in fishing.”

Mr Hanson says there is a definite need to examine the financial returns producers are receiving and measure this against workers terms and conditions of work in the industry.

He says the massive rise in food prices in the last year, especially with fresh produce, was not reflected in the wages and conditions of workers in the industry.

“It is a travesty that in a food producing country like New Zealand, workers cannot afford to buy fresh food.”

“We are of no doubt that the payment of a living wage would bring New Zealand workers into the industry, and still leave room for Pacific Island workers. The Government needs to take a firmer line on conditions and wages paid to these workers.”

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The Maritime Union of New Zealand has attacked plans by employers to bring in migrant labour into the seafood industry after mass layoffs in the same sector.

A week after Sealord confirmed it would axe 323 jobs from its Nelson mussel factory, two South Island seafood companies Talleys and Aotearoa Seafood have applied to import 100 migrant labourers.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says that the use of temporary labour being imported from overseas threatens local employment.

“It is utterly disgraceful that at a time when we have rising unemployment and surging living costs, employers are being allowed to knock the bottom out of the labour market.”

Mr Hanson says the key problem with finding workers was based around the poor wages paid in the local industry.

He says he is disturbed that Immigration authorities seem to have no understanding as to the social effects of the import of temporary labour.

“It is no exaggeration to say New Zealand is struggling with social problems caused by the lack of secure permanent jobs and some kind of career structure and future for young people.”

Mr Hanson says the use of short term workers imported from overseas disrupted local employment conditions, and opened up the overseas workers to exploitation.

“This is not the way to get a stable employment situation or a stable society.”

Mr Hanson says the Maritime Union has predicted that under free trade agreements the use of temporary labour being imported across borders would increase to drive down wages and conditions in a “race to the bottom.”

“Not only are jobs being exported to poor countries to take advantage of powerless workers, now the reverse is happening with the cross border use of temporary workers being imported to drive down wages here.”

Mr Hanson says temporary cross-border labour was very different to immigration, and emphasized the Maritime Union was an internationalist Union that supported workers of all nations.

“In this case it is clear the problem lies with immigration authorities and employers.”

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Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Trevor Hanson says the Union will resist any attempt to undermine wages and conditions through short term casual workers imported under free trade deals.

He says that comments by Trade Minister Phil Goff on the China free trade deal are disturbing for workers and not in line with the Labour Government’s commitment to a high skill, high wage economy.

There will be no incentive for training or paying for skills if businesses are able to step outside the national labour market and pull in trained staff on the minimum wage, says Mr Hanson.

“The Minister is saying that the minimum wage and minimum conditions will be applied to any overseas labour, but if this is being used as the benchmark for skilled labour, then we are in serious trouble.”

Mr Hanson says the glaring example of the fishing industry was showing what would happen under free trade in workers.

He says that minimum wage conditions and overseas labour have become the standard in the fishing industry, and a mass campaign by employers is fighting any improvement.

“The industry is riddled with exploitation and abuse of which documented cases are common and have been the subject of Department of Labour investigation and reports, and many workers are not receiving even the basic protections of the law.”

“Look no further – this mess is exactly what will be coming ashore under free trade deals.”

Mr Hanson says that the use of overseas shipping with overseas crews had devastated New Zealand shipping, and was a threat to New Zealand ports.

“The use of short-term, casualized and temporary labour in ports has caused massive problems in Europe, and would do the same in New Zealand.”

Mr Hanson says the transport unions affiliated to the International Transport Workers Federation worldwide are running a global campaign against attacks on wages and conditions through movement of short-term labour under free trade deals.

“These problems emerge in all sorts of areas, such as the use of crews to load and unload vessels, and the replacement of permanent jobs through employers moving casual labour over borders.”

The China free trade deal is a first and is being described as a “template” for future deals which means that New Zealand is being run as a experiment, says Mr Hanson.

Mr Hanson says political questions on the future of workers in New Zealand are being decided by unelected trade officials behind closed doors.

“The whole thing stinks of the Rogernomics era where change was rammed through as New Zealand was used as a test case for free market policies which benefited the wealthy but caused terrible damage and harm to workers.”

He says that Australia is following a much more cautious line on free trade deals after “intelligent resistance” from workers and farmers to the negative implications.

“Chinese business wanted to control the entire transport and distribution line in Australia from mines to rail to ports to shipping, with Chinese workers employed under Chinese conditions. Do they want that here as well?”

Mr Hanson says throwing figures around like $400 million in increased trade are merely guesswork, and no attention is being paid to who that money will be flowing through to.

“If it means that the business elite are getting their hands on it while workers are pushed down to the poverty line, they will have a major fight on their hands.”

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The Maritime Union says the new rules to improve wages and conditions for overseas fishing crews announced today are good news for workers.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says the announcement means the industry will be brought into line with the rest of New Zealand business.

“Despite a co-ordinated campaign by special interests in the industry, the Government has made the right decision and the principled decision.”

Mr Hanson says the move will lead to improvements in conditions for overseas crew, meaning less cases of abuse and shipjumping.

“Local workers will once again be able to afford to seek work in the fishing industry.”

Mr Hanson says there is a lot of work that needs to be done but the groundwork is in place.

“The Maritime Union believes that this move is a positive one for the future of the New Zealand fishing industry and those who work in it.”

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The Maritime Union says the free trade deal with China is the biggest threat to workers in New Zealand since the introduction of the Employment Contracts Act in 1991.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says the importation of short-term, casualized skilled labour being paid the minimum wage will be a disaster.

“This is obviously going to have a major and negative effect on wages and conditions in New Zealand.”

He says that a New Zealand company or Chinese company that sets up business here in a free trade environment and imports cheap labour will immediately force other New Zealand companies to do the same in order to survive.

Mr Hanson says the current situation in the fishing industry was a clear example of what to expect.

“What happens now is a fishing company advertises for staff at extreme low rates of pay in the knowledge that New Zealand workers won’t apply, and the company is then approved to bring in cheap overseas labour by the Immigration Department.”

“We have politicians lining up to defend a minimum wage economy based on overseas labour – local workers don’t get a look in with these people.”

The Maritime Union of New Zealand shares concerns by the Green Party, New Zealand First and Alliance about the free trade proposals.

Mr Hanson says the Union movement and workers have to wake up to what is happening.

“This is not where it ends, this is just the first step in a process and the Government needs to be honest about the kind of pressures that are coming on them in this free trade deal.”

Mr Hanson urged the Government to look at the European Community where the use of cheap labour moved across borders was creating social havoc.

“Ask your local MP what and how a free trade agreement with China will work, and they won’t have the smallest idea of the implications – let alone the person in the street.”

He says that any free trade deal is a one-way street, and was a grave threat to some of the basic aspects of democracy.

“Any farmer who thinks this is the way forward should reflect that in the near future the only sheep he will see will be at his nearest supermarket and will be grown, branded, packed and frozen in China.”

For further information, contact Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson on 021390585
or Maritime Union communications officer Victor Billot on 021482219

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The Maritime Union of New Zealand says that growing pressure to bring unskilled labour into Australia under a free trade agreement has confirmed its worst fears.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says that proposals to allow companies to import unskilled Chinese workers into Australian ports and construction sites gave a clear message to New Zealand workers.

“This is the equivalent of a huge neon sign flashing out the warning that free trade deals will inevitably lead to a collapse in wages, conditions and workers rights. It is time we have a national debate on free trade, and get the issue away from the control of bureaucrats and private interest groups.”

The Australian Financial Review has reported the Chinese Government has put Canberra on notice it would demand Australia go further on the issue of temporary entry of workers in the free trade agreement now under negotiation.

Shipping, construction and mining are three key areas that Beijing has nominated as key to the labour negotiations that start at the end of this year.

The Chinese government has used separate World Trade Organisation negotiations to raise the issue of Australian port deregulation, by wanting to have ship crews loading and unloading ships, rather than local workers.

The Australian Financial Review said China might be interested in a point-to-point Chinese owned and staffed shipping line stretching from inland Australia to inland China.

Mr Hanson says the recent failed attempt by Hong Kong based multinational Hutchison to buy into the Port of Lyttelton earlier this year was an example of the “slippery slope of free trade.”

“Obviously the multinationals would much rather have low-cost labour employed under Chinese conditions working in New Zealand, just as they would in Australia. China is a police state where workers have no independent unions or right to organize, and those conditions are going to be coming down the line to us unless we start to question the free trade syndrome.”

Mr Hanson says New Zealand has been hypnotized with propaganda about the benefits of market access for New Zealand products to overseas markets.

“However no one seems to grasp that China will want something out of the deal, and they have now put it on the table for Australia. Why should the situation be any different in New Zealand?”

He says it is very important the issue does not get turned into a debate on race and immigration, but instead focussed on the real issue of free trade being used to play workers off against each other in a global race to the bottom.

“It is the old tactic of divide and rule, turning workers against workers, on a grand scale. The issue is about wages, conditions and the right of all workers to secure jobs and human rights. There’s no free in free trade for the workers.”

Mr Hanson says that if people want an example of the reality of work conditions under free trade, they should look at overseas workers in the New Zealand fishing industry.

“They are underpaid, over-worked, and as numerous reports have indicated suffer from poor safety conditions and are often abused and even assaulted. What happens when that situation moves ashore?”

He says the Maritime Union is planning for strong and co-ordinated national action if there is any attempt to undermine conditions through free trade agreements, and has offered its support to Australian unions.

ENDS

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The Maritime Union of New Zealand and International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) have obtained backpay for a group of Indonesian fishermen who jumped ship last week.

The nine Indonesian crew members left the fishing trawler Marinui in Dunedin on Friday 10 March.

The crew members were sent to Christchurch where they were interviewed by Maritime Union officials, and then travelled to Auckland International Airport today where they were met by union officials representing the ITF.

ITF New Zealand co-ordinator Kathy Whelan says the crew members were assisted by the ITF in negotiating back pay and medical costs from their employers, and did not have to pay for their own return airfares.

She says the ITF is continuing to investigate the payment of at least the minimum wage to overseas fishermen in New Zealand waters.

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The Maritime Union has welcomed New Zealand signing up to an international crackdown on illegal fishing – which also provides a clear opportunity to solve the abuse and exploitation of maritime workers.

Fisheries ministers from Australia, Britain, Canada, Chile, Namibia and New Zealand have agreed to a plan which will mean global tracking of fishing vessels, as well as an online database of their names, location and history, to help uncover illegal fishing.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says the plan means that “half of the problem” is being seriously addressed.

“The next step is to ensure fishing workers – and all seafarers of whatever country of origin – are being paid a decent wage and working under decent conditions.”

He says the global tracking system could be widened out to all shipping, to ensure workers were not being abused or exploited.

“Deregulation has failed. The global maritime free market has failed. It will require co-ordinated international action to clean up the monopolistic, unaccountable mess of Flag of Convenience shipping.”

Mr Hanson says a 2005 report from the Australian Government, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), and the global conservation organization WWF, had revealed the pillaging of threatened fish stocks, human rights abuses and global pirate fishing operations were all linked problems.

“It is time to connect the dots between illegal fishing operations and countries that offer cheap registration services, or Flags of Convenience (FOC), to fishing vessels.”

He says the current moves by Government’s around the world vindicate the Maritime Union’s strong stance on both workers rights and environmental protection.

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The Maritime Union has welcomed the announcement by Minister of Immigration David Cunliffe that the current system regulating overseas crews in the fishing industry will be overhauled.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says official recognition that crews are being underpaid and exploited is an important first step.

Mr Hanson says he agrees with the Government the seafood industry is important for New Zealand, but this does not translate into allowing employers to do whatever they want.

“The Maritime Union view is that local labour shortages have been created by rockbottom wages being offered that are not acceptable to New Zealand workers.”

Mr Hanson says that it is not acceptable that overseas fishing crews are only being paid the minimum wage as this has knocked the bottom out of industry wage rates, which is one obvious explanation for the so-called shortage of New Zealand workers.

“This is a dirty, hard and dangerous job, and there should be an industry standard rate of at least $15 per hour.”

This would mean a drop off in shipjumping, injuries and deaths, and money problems for crews, and would solve the labour shortage problem, he says.

“The problem is not a labour shortage but a shortage of good wages for workers.”

Mr Hanson says the Maritime Union will be providing a perspective and voice of workers to the Department of Labour in its 2006 review process.

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