Maritime Union of New Zealand

The Maritime Union says comments by Ports of Auckland CEO Tony Gibson about Maersk shipping pulling their Auckland service are mistaken and confused.

Maritime Union National President Garry Parsloe says the assertion that the move by Maersk was simply a result of industrial action was clearly inaccurate.

He says that shipping companies pulled out of New Zealand ports and swapped into others on a regular basis, for all sorts of reasons.

“Our advice to Mr Gibson is to stop playing to the gallery and start talking to his workforce.”

Mr Parsloe says management pulled out of mediation today at the last moment.

“We were all set to go along and get the talks underway and then at the last minute the company decide they are not coming.”

He says it is strange behaviour for POAL management to say how terrible the situation is for their customers, and then lock out their workforce and fail to show up at negotiations.

“Since the port company have locked its employees out for four days, perhaps the question should be asked what effect has this decision by management had on shipping and customers?”

“We really need to be asking what is the agenda here. Is this a company that wants a resolution? Or is this an agenda to attack workers?”

Mr Parsloe says media comments from big business executives and Port of Tauranga CEO Mark Cairns were transparent and derisory.

“The reality is these gentlemen would prefer it if workers were paid nothing. That would ensure more profits for them, which is all they care about and is all they have ever cared about.”

The issue was that workers at Ports of Auckland were not going to accept contracting out or the undermining of their collective benefits they had negotiated.

“The CEO keeps going on about side issues in an attempt to deflect attention away from this.”

“We are not going to see the years of work we have put into building a decent superannuation scheme and health scheme for working people be undermined.”

Cashing up those benefits for a tiny minority of workers on individual agreements is simply promoting freeloading and in the long term is clearly aimed at knocking out conditions first, then attacking wages later, says Mr Parsloe.

“Mr Gibson is talking like this is the first time a multinational shipping company has pulled out of a New Zealand port and it is all due to workers.”

But this claim was undermined by the fact that Maersk had publicly stated there were many reasons for the decision, and the global shipping multinational had been in discussions with the other port for some time.

“The interesting thing is everyone just goes along with all the economic damage that does, which will be a lot larger than the stoppage at Auckland. So let’s have a consistent approach to discussing economic problems, because if we want to start down that track, why don’t we put the acid on the shipping companies.”

Mr Parsloe says it is time questions were asked when Port Company CEOs, road transport executives and big business advocates were all singing the same song.

Maritime Union of New Zealand National President Garry Parsloe says management have failed to successfully negotiate with their employees and had no one to blame but themselves for the situation at the Port.

“After a week of inflammatory claims and public attacks on the integrity of his employees, Ports of Auckland Limited CEO Tony Gibson can boast of one accomplishment only – alienating his workforce.”

He says that port workers being locked out by POAL management would be losing pay, but Local 13 MUNZ members understood the long term importance of maintaining terms and conditions at the Port.

The three-year Collective Agreement between the Maritime Union of New Zealand Local 13 and the Ports of Auckland Limited (POAL) expired on 30 September 2011.

Mr Parsloe says there are several substantial issues around terms and conditions which are behind the dispute, which had been concealed by Ports of Auckland management.

“If management were serious about solving the dispute, they’d be addressing the issues instead of grandstanding in the media.”

One major point of contention was ongoing attempts by management to contract out the jobs of port workers, he says.

During the second year of the agreement (2010), the Port Company attempted to contract out ITF affiliated Dockers employment in the lash, straddle driving and container crane operations.

In August and September of 2010 the Port Company issued redundancy notices to MUNZ members working in the shuttle operation. Shuttles are trailer units that move containers between Fergusson and Bledisloe container terminals. It should be noted that the shuttle operation is carried out within the confines of the port area, wharf to wharf.

POAL contracted out the shuttle operation to a Company called Conlinxx which is a subsidiary joint venture between the POAL and NZL of which the Port Company owns 90% of the shares. Port Company employees also act as directors on the Conlinxx Board of Directors.

The Conlinxx operation is predominately a non-union operation which includes a high proportion of owner drivers.

The Port Company sold three of its trailer units and following an interim agreement with the Union the remaining two units were to be worked by MUNZ members. What unfolded was at best, a spasmodic operation of Union driven trailer units on a Monday to Friday basis of 1st shift only.

In talks to renew the Collective Agreement the Port Company has definitively stated that the contracted shuttle operation will remain despite the Union claim for this worked to be returned to union members.

As the Collective Agreement had expired the Union was in a position to take industrial action to support its claim for the return of the shuttle work.

At a stopwork meeting, rank and file membership unanimously instructed the Local 13 Officials to issue the Port Company with a two day strike notice to support their claim.

The Port Company responded by issuing a Lockout notice for two days in retaliation.

The second main area of the dispute was bad faith by the management who were offering higher hourly rates to workers on Individual Employment Agreements.

Management has justified its actions for a higher hourly rate by saying the rate in the Individual Agreements is a ‘Total Remuneration Package’ that effectively cashes up superannuation, meal monies and health insurance.

These conditions are conditions that have been won by the Union in previous struggles.

Local 13 is challenging the company on Good Faith bargaining, as the offer of a higher hourly rate undermines the Collective Agreement and the bargaining process.

“In recent weeks the Port Company has made much to do about their Company values, so the Union fails to see how an employer who offers a monetary incentive to leave the Union at the expense of a retirement plan can masquerade as a caring employer.”

The cashing up of superannuation entitlements along with other conditions is a sinister attempt to influence workers and establish vulnerable dependent employees in the workplace, says Mr Parsloe.

Mr Parsloe says the efforts were a transparent attempt to deunionize the workforce, with the intention of eventually tearing down hard won terms and conditions of employment.

He says at the end of the day the majority of workers in the Ports of Auckland chose to be members of the Maritime Union.

“Every time Mr Gibson opens his mouth and abuses the Union, he is abusing his workforce, the same workforce that delivered high
productivity in a round the clock industrial environment at the Ports of Auckland.”

“This CEO claims to respect his workforce but has spent the last week attacking their integrity in the news media.”

“He says he is concerned about the effect of stoppages on customers before Christmas, then proceeds to lock out the workforce for two days.”

“He says he wants a resolution but continues to engage in bad faith actions.”

In short, what the Union wants is simply to maintain hard won terms and conditions, and a unionized workforce.

The agenda of the POAL management continues to be one of radical undermining of terms and conditions through clearly anti-union measures such as contracting out and offering preferential treatment to some employees.

The Ports of Auckland management lock out of workers commences 12.01am Saturday 3 December and concludes 10.30 pm on Sunday 4 December 2011.

The first strike period is from 10.30 pm on Thursday 1 December 2011 until 10.30 pm on Friday 2 December 2011, then from 10.30 pm on Sunday 4 December 2011 until 10.30 pm on Monday 5 December 2011.

The second strike is for the period commencing 10.30 pm on Thursday 8 December 2011 until 10.30 pm Saturday 10 December 2011.

Ports of Auckland’s second lockout is for the 48 hours immediately following and will extend the stoppage until 10.30 pm Monday 12 December 2011.

The two main waterfront unions have condemned a proposal to slash 12 jobs at Port Otago.

Both the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) and the Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) were united in their criticism of the plan.

‘At a time when Port Otago has just delivered a record $12.5 million dividend to its owner Otago Regional Council, it beggars belief that the Port wants to slash jobs,’ said RMTU National Secretary Wayne Butson.

‘Management say they are expecting a decline in container numbers as the Port is no longer the trans-shipment hub for shipping  Maersk, but they remain upbeat about the future, saying they are confident about the success of the Port,’ said Mr Butson.

‘That a publicly owned company can consider throwing people out of work in these circumstances is completely unacceptable, those workers created the wealth that was paid out to Otago Regional Council as a dividend and this is the thanks they get,’ he said.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood said the Port Otago plan is flawed as with growing trade was occurring in some areas of the business.

‘A few months down the track, the company may have to go to all the trouble of employing new skilled staff after letting their current staff go.’

Mr Fleetwood said the port company has to accept that peaks and troughs in shipping was a part of the industry, and to stop using workers as pawns in a situation where the workforce was productive and the company was performing well.

Mr Butson said it had been a bad enough year for Dunedin with 44 jobs being cut at Hillside in July, now more families faced an uncertain future while the Regional Council pocketed a record dividend.

‘The Combined Unions will be doing everything we can to try and turn this proposal around. Unemployment is rising nationally and this region is suffering disproportionally. It seems that both the National led Government and the Regional Council don’t care about workers, their families and the wider community when it comes to jobs,’ he said.

‘We have a couple of weeks to mobilise to fight these cuts before the decision is final. We’ll be holding a joint meeting of our members next week to decide on how we’ll do that,’ he said.

The Maritime Union of New Zealand has welcomed today’s announcement by the Government of the terms of reference and panel for an official and wide ranging inquiry into foreign owned vessels in the fishing industry.

Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the Government’s objectives sound good on paper, but the Union wants real answers.

“Enforceable rules and regulations for labour standards, and the need for New Zealand to benefit from our own resources, including jobs, are the big issues. This inquiry will need to shine a light into dark places.”

“This inquiry is long overdue and the Maritime Union have been calling for one for many years. But we know in advance that this inquiry will confirm what we already know, that disgraceful practices have become the norm and accepted by the industry.”

This has caused great harm, says Mr Fleetwood.

He says in 2006 new regulations were brought in to tighten up the rules around overseas crews on joint venture vessels, but the inquiry was effectively an admission that previous efforts had not cleaned up the industry.

“This is a problem that has been allowed to grow and grow for decades.”

Mr Fleetwood says the Maritime Union’s goal for the fishing industry was simple.

“We want to have the fishing and processing done by New Zealand operators employing New Zealand workers on decent wages and conditions. We want the phase out of joint ventures. They’ve been a failure, that has resulted in New Zealand being identified internationally as a place where disgraceful practices are condoned.”

“If overseas crews are phased out, the abuse, exploitation and underpayment will be solved.”

Mr Fleetwood says the Maritime Union would be working with other bona fide unions and the International Transport Workers’ Federation to discuss ways to organize local and international labour in the industry.

The New Zealand affiliates of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) met today to discuss their concerns with the arrival of KiwiRail’s new locomotives in the country.

The Chinese made locomotives will arrive on two different ships into the Ports of Auckland over the next 24 hours and be unloaded this week.

New Zealand ITF Convenor and President of the Maritime Union Garry Parsloe says New Zealand workers are concerned and angry that local jobs and industry have been undermined by sending the work overseas.

“We keep on hearing how the country is broke, and we all know how high unemployment is, but KiwiRail and the National Government are allowing work that should be done here in New Zealand to go overseas, destroying jobs and taking money out of our communities.”

Mr Parsloe says the unions condemned the outsourcing of work overseas when KiwiRail had the ability to manufacture in its own workshops.

New Zealand rail workers are represented by the ITF affiliated Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU).

RMTU General Secretary Wayne Butson says that 35 of the new flat top multi functional wagons for KiwiRail have already been made at the Hillside workshops in Dunedin, but most had been contracted to China.

“We have demonstrated our ability and competency to build rolling stock here. The only factor at play here is that cheap exploited labour is used in China. Yet the money that could be spent in New Zealand communities, boosting jobs, skills and the future of industry, is being funneled out of the country.”

“In the context of the recent budget, it is clear that this Government is taking a tunnel vision approach to lowering New Zealand’s national debt burden. They are happy to see our current account deficit balloon out by the cost of these rail projects, at the same time as giving our skilled railway tradespersons a belief that there is no future for them in New Zealand and they need to join the exodus to Australia where they will be quickly snatched up.”

The ITF unions will be meeting again this week to discuss the way forward. ITF affiliates in New Zealand include the Rail and Maritime Transport Union, Maritime Union of New Zealand, Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, National Distribution Union, Merchant Service Guild, and Aviation and Marine Engineers Association, representing tens of thousands of New Zealand transport workers.

The ITF is made up of 681 unions representing 4,500,000 transport workers in 148 countries. It is one of several Global Union Federations allied with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

The Maritime Union of New Zealand says the decision by KiwiRail to offshore production of rail wagons is an indictment on the National Government and KiwiRail management.

KiwiRail has announced a $29 million tender for 300 rail wagons has gone to China CNR Corporation.

Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says maritime workers had supported the campaign by the Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) to build New Zealand rolling stock in New Zealand workshops.

He says the idea that the move to offshore production would “save money” was idiotic.

“Any money saved by the public enterprise KiwiRail going for the cheap labour option in China will be required to pay for unemployment benefits, for our increased overseas debt, and for the loss of taxes and loss of spin off benefits for the local economy in New Zealand.”

“This decision will lead to loss of job opportunities, and is another blow to New Zealand’s ability to undertake high skill industrial production.”

Mr Fleetwood says that the Government bears responsibility and should front up to affected workers and communities.

“They change laws to suit Hollywood movie moguls and sink vast amounts of money into trendy sectors, but will not back New Zealand workers and the future of New Zealand industry.”

Mr Fleetwood says the message is clear for workers.

“The John Key Government is prepared to wind down New Zealand’s infrastructure and industrial capability in vital areas. There is no leadership in shipping or ports, and now no leadership in rail.”

“They call themselves a National Government, but they are governing in the interests of overseas business, not New Zealand’s national interest.”

Mr Fleetwood says that New Zealand’s entrapment in free trade agreements would further limit our ability for local industry and reduce New Zealand to an economic colony.