Maritime Union of New Zealand

The Maritime Union of New Zealand has attacked “bogus claims” by Ports of Auckland management that workers are to blame for the loss of Maersk’s Southern Star shipping service at Ports of Auckland.

Maritime Union National President Garry Parsloe says Ports of Auckland CEO Tony Gibson’s “blame game” being played out in the media was damaging negotiations.

“We keep on hearing assertions and inventions being thrown around, and we want to point out the simple fact that they are nonsense, and harmful nonsense that is undermining any resolution to this dispute.”

“Sooner or later Mr Gibson’s stream of misinformation is going to come back and bite him. It’s very hard to sit around a table with someone who just makes things up like this.”

Mr Parsloe says the withdrawal of Maersk was only for one of their services, and the real facts were already on public record.

“It is on the record that Maersk are doing this for a number of reasons, and I guarantee the decision is due to a range of commercial factors that have been considered for a much longer period than the few weeks this dispute has been around.”

Mr Parsloe says that today’s New Zealand Herald editorial stated that it was improbable the Maersk decision was the result of the dispute, and would have been the result of months of analysis, not the upshot of a few days’ industrial action.

The New Zealand Herald noted how Maersk’s decision has highlighted the way its influence could “run counter to the national interest.”

Given that the Ports of Auckland had locked out workers for an entire two days, Mr Parsloe said it was obvious that the supposed management concern for customers and lost business had no credibility.

“To grandstand about lost business while simultaneously locking out your workers has no credibility. It’s a bankrupt position, a failed strategy, a complete own goal by these people.”

He questioned the agenda of Ports of Auckland management.

“Every step of the way it seems to us they want to ramp it up. Do they want a resolution, based around fair treatment of their workforce, or is this a war against workers by a management who want to contract out and divide and rule?”

Many statements had been made about the importance of the Ports of Auckland to the economy.

Mr Parsloe says the profits that are made go back to the people of Auckland, and the services of the Ports of Auckland, are achieved by a round the clock 24/7 workforce.

“These workers, our members, are highly skilled operating in a potentially dangerous heavy industrial shift work environment in all conditions.”

“In short, our members are the ones keeping the economy going, not CEOs, and we demand the right to good terms and conditions for our families. We’re not going anywhere and the sooner these characters get that straight, the sooner we will get a result.”

Mr Parsloe says the greatest damage to New Zealand ports by far is caused by the unconstrained power of global shipping companies who pull services out of ports on a regular basis creating great insecurity, especially in the regions.

Ports were in a race to the bottom with wages and conditions, says Mr Parsloe, and the damage done to local economies in New Zealand is substantial.

Mr Parsloe says the motive for the Maritime Union action was clear.

“It is to focus Ports of Auckland management on the seriousness with which their employees regard their actions.”

Mr Parsloe says that the issue was focussing on why a tiny minority of workers on individual agreements were being offered a much better deal than the great majority of workers who were on the collective agreement.

“There is no doubt that this is a planned move to undermine the workers on the collective agreement and our Union.”

Mr Parsloe says the strike notices are not being put out for fun, and the decision was taken by a vote of confidence in the Union by union members at Ports of Auckland on the collective agreement.

“This is the result of where Mr Gibson’s continued attacks on the union and the majority of his employees has taken us. The workers have got together, discussed the issues and they see the big issues at stake.”

“Let me make it clear that every time the CEO attacks his workers in the media, it is having the sole result of firming their resolve to bring him to heel and make him negotiate in good faith.”

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 Maritime Union is backing locked out meat workers at the CMP plant in Marton with financial support and a solidarity delegation.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood, speaking from the picket line today, says the Union is committed to ongoing support.

“This is a multinational bully using its power to rip out conditions from hard working New Zealanders in a small community. It’s unacceptable and they are not going to get away with it.”

Mr Fleetwood says he was impressed with the morale and strength of the locked out workers, and the number of other unions represented on the picket line in support.

“First thing this morning we had 15 maritime workers from Wellington come up to join the picket.”

Mr Fleetwood says the Maritime Union has made a substantial donation to the locked out workers.

“This is about providing food and paying the bills for these working families. These workers have put themselves on the line and we are not going to let them down.”

“We know that with an anti-worker National Government this is what happens. The producers of wealth, the backbone of our nation, are up against it from global multinationals who want to suck money out of our country for their global owners.

Mr Fleetwood says the dispute had gone international and the Maritime Union was updating other maritime and transport unions in its global network on the dispute.

CMP, a subsidiary of global multinational ANZCO Foods, has locked out 111 workers at its plant in Marton, in order to force them to sign off on pay cuts of between 20 – 30% and unacceptable changes to terms and conditions.

Donations can be made to the workers disputes fund at Kiwibank:

Account Name Disputes Fund

Account Number 38-9007-0894028-08

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

The Maritime Union is supporting locked out members of the National Distribution Union at Progressive Enterprises sites in Auckland, Palmerston North and Christchurch.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says the Union has committed itself to financial, practical and moral support for the workers and their pickets.

He says the situation is a serious one because it showed how multinational corporates in New Zealand are determined to create a low-wage economy.

“It’s just a game for the management who get paid fat salaries – and can afford full page ads – but it is the low paid workers in this battle who are putting themselves on the line to ensure a decent income for their families.”

Mr Hanson says low pay and casualized jobs are a serious problem in New Zealand, with many families struggling to pay for rising housing, transport and food costs.

“The Maritime Union offers its solidarity and support to these workers.”