Maritime Union of New Zealand

The Maritime Union of New Zealand supports the ILWU struggle for decent jobs at the Port of Longview.

We are appalled at the actions of police acting in collusion with multinational corporation EGT and the disgraceful attack on the ILWU protest.

Congratulations to all ILWU brothers and sisters for the active defence of decent jobs against predatory global corporates.

The Maritime Union has identified the New Zealand operations of one of the EGT partners and will be happy to register our strong protest to them and publicize their involvement in anti-union and anti-worker activities, if required. International solidarity is the key to defeating these attacks on working men and working women.

Please let us know if there is any way in which we can assist your struggle. Kia kaha tatau tatau – be strong, we are all one.

The Maritime Union of New Zealand has offered its sympathy and solidarity with the people of Japan following the devastating earthquake and tsunami of 11 March.

Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the disaster has hit many coastal and port communities and the Union had been in touch with maritime unions in Japan.

There were close ties between maritime workers in the two countries, and the support offered by Japan to New Zealand in the recent Christchurch earthquake must be reciprocated.

Information on what unions are doing, and what you can do, to help can be found at the International Transport Workers’ Federation or at Labourstart.

Leading international mining and maritime unions representing millions of workers around the world are meeting in Auckland this week.

Representatives of the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (CTU) delivered a letter to the acting Mexican Ambassador on Wednesday 30 June 2010 expressing deep concern at the Mexican government’s use of force against striking workers in the National Miners’ and Metalworkers Union of Mexico (Los Mineros).

The letter condemns the assault by heavily armed riot police on striking members of Los Mineros at the Cananea copper mine in Mexico earlier this month.

On 6 June hundreds of Mexican riot police surrounded the mine and used tear gas to dislodge workers who were occupying the entrances and to assault the union office. More than 1000 members of Los Mineros were on strike over a long-running dispute with the company, Grupo Mexico, over health and safety and other contract violations.

Los Mineros reported that three workers received gunshot or projectile wounds, and others had been beaten or were suffering from the effects of the tear gas.

The letter urges the Mexican government to allow the elected leader of the union, Napoleón Gómez, to return to Mexico from exile in Canada and resume his position.

The acting Mexican Ambassador Luis Enrique Franco gave an assurance he would convey to his government the deep concerns of the New Zealand trade union movement over the Mexican government’s treatment of the workers involved.

“We urge the Mexican government to allow the safe return of Napoleón Gómez, the elected leader of the National Miners’ and Metalworkers Union of Mexico, so he can resume his duties without fear of reprisal,” says the EPMU’s senior national industrial officer Paul Tolich.

“The Mexican government needs to honour its commitments as a member of the United Nations’ International Labour Organization (ILO) and guarantee freedom of association for all Mexican workers,” says MUNZ general secretary Joe Fleetwood.

The ILO has backed Los Mineros in the dispute saying that the Mexican government has acted in a way that is incompatible with ILO Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association.

The Maritime Union of New Zealand extends its solidarity to ILWU Local 30 in Boron, California.

The Maritime Union of New Zealand says it will support the Maritime Union of Australia and the Australian union movement in their fight to protect the rights of workers.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Trevor Hanson says the Australian federal Government’s plans to attack job standards for workers was experienced on the New Zealand side of the Tasman Sea in the 1990s, with the Employment Contracts Act (ECA) introduced by the National Government in 1991.

“We know what Australian workers are up against – the key issues such as protection from unfair dismissal, pressure to accept inferior individual contracts, and laws to keep unions from seeing workers at their workplaces, were all familiar experiences for New Zealand workers in the 1990s,” he says.

New Zealand workers are still trying to catch up what they had lost in wages, job security and conditions years after the ECA was repealed in 2000, he says.

Mr Hanson says the two Maritime Unions work together as part of the Tasman Maritime Federation (TMF), a maritime alliance that sees workers co-operating internationally.

He says the Tasman Maritime Federation will discuss industrial, financial and political methods of helping the struggle for a fair go for workers wherever they face attacks.

“What we are talking about is the globalization of workers, where working people come together internationally for their common interests – this is a proud tradition for maritime unions around the world.”