Maritime Union of New Zealand

The Maritime Union is warning that New Zealand workers are under threat due to lack of regulation and enforcement of standards in industry.

Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says a lax attitude and a view that workers are expendable is present in industry and Government.

“The Prime Minister especially has worked hard to disconnect himself as being responsible for anything except appearing on the cover of magazines and radio chat shows.”

Mr Fleetwood says the reality is that New Zealanders and overseas workers were being harmed in the workplace due to slack regulation.

He says there are three clear examples that should be making people ask questions.

“As the inquiry for the Pike River disaster goes on, we are seeing a picture of lack of regulation and lack of responsibility in key areas. Why are we not demanding accountability at the top level?”

“The Prime Minister has said the bodies of the workers would be recovered but this had not happened.”

“The Prime Minister has stated that New Zealand mining regulations are inferior to Australia. What has he done about it, and what is he intending to do about it?”

Mr Fleetwood says the deaths of workers in the maritime industry included two as yet unexplained sinking of overseas fishing vessels working out of New Zealand ports, the Oyang 70 and the No 1 Insung.

“Once again, the poor standards that are permitted in this industry are likely to have been a contributing factor.”

The recent grounding of the Rena should have been a further wake up call about the decline of standards in the maritime industry, but even this dramatic event had failed to cause lasting concern.

“The European Union is currently deciding whether it will even permit Filipino trained seafarers in their waters. This is not even an issue in New Zealand. Why not? Are we happy just to wait for the next incident?”

He says Maritime Union members work in the offshore oil and gas industry and would insist on high standards, but there was no confidence in the Government’s attitude.

Mr Fleetwood says the reality is workers have to take the lead and make the workplace safe.

“In the current environment, profit comes first for many employers and that has a big impact. Unless we have strong unions on the job to defend health and safety, and legislation that is backed with some teeth, then we will see more and more preventable deaths and injuries.”

The Maritime Union of New Zealand has offered its support and solidarity to the Pike River miners.

Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says maritime workers understand the tough conditions that miners work in and share the concerns of all New Zealanders for the miners and their families.

“The special bond between miners and maritime workers goes back in New Zealand over a century, and history records the times when miners came to the assistance of maritime workers.”

“Thus we see these workers and their families and community as our own.”

The Maritime Union has offered support via the union representing many of the miners, the EPMU.

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.