Maritime Union of New Zealand

The Maritime Union of New Zealand is backing teachers demanding the new national standards for schools experiment be trialled.

Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says maritime workers were at Parliament today to support a NZEI organized rally.

“I was impressed with the attitude and knowledge of the teachers and parents there and their concern for the future of the New Zealand education system.”

He says the Maritime Union is especially concerned about the effect of the national standards on working class children and children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“One more effective way the Government could help school children’s achievement is by putting more resources into education, but they seem more interested in tax cuts for multi millionaires.”

Mr Fleetwood says it seems the National Government is trying to save face over a flawed policy rather than improve the education system.

“Obviously there is widespread concern from teachers and principals, parents and education experts, who are the people who educate and care for children every day, so the Government could just trial the system to see whether national standards actually work.”

Mr Fleetwood says it appears the Government is not listening to the real experts – teachers and parents.

“A Government which does not listen to the workers at the coalface is a Government that has lost touch. It didn’t take this National Government long to lose touch.”

ENDS

For more information contact Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood on 021364649

The Maritime Union of New Zealand has denounced attacks on unemployed New Zealand workers by the National Government.
John Key and Paula Bennett today announced plans to make life harder for the unemployed –at the same time that unemployment is at its highest since the dark days of the last National Government in the 1990s.
Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says many things are responsible for high unemployment in New Zealand, including the global recession, the instability of a deregulated economy, and a National Government with no ideas.
However, unemployed New Zealanders were not one of the major causes of unemployment.
“There may be a few people who want to stay unemployed, living on the poverty line. But there are tens of thousands more wanting work who can’t find it, shouldn’t we be helping them instead of blaming them?”
He says to put the boot into unemployed people when many had already suffered the effects of redundancy were the despicable actions of a heartless Government, attempting to whip up resentment between those in work against those without.
Mr Fleetwood says that with unemployment peaking recently at nearly 70 000, National was anxious to deflect the blame from their economic policies onto the victims of their policies.
“It’s not like we suddenly had thirty thousand people get lazy overnight and say, oh, I can’t be bothered working anymore, I’d prefer to be stuck on a benefit struggling to put food on the table.”
Mass unemployment means that tens of thousands of New Zealanders are unable to contribute to their society and are forced to accept miserable benefits to survive, which was an indictment on the free market economy.
“National don’t care about the human cost, but surely they must at least realize how inefficient it is.”
He says the Maritime Union has identified two areas where jobs could be created for New Zealanders immediately.
He says that New Zealand coastal shipping could provide jobs but was currently dominated by global shippers who paid no taxes in New Zealand but were permitted to move cargo on the New Zealand coast.
In addition, local workers had been forced out of the fishing industry by employers who chose to employ low wage overseas crews from poor countries.
Mr Fleetwood says the Maritime Union would defend all working class New Zealanders from attacks by the National Government.
“It is time to fight back against this Government’s anti-worker agenda.”

ENDS

For more information, contact Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood on 021364649

The Maritime Union of New Zealand says that New Zealand’s overseas trade could be in jeopardy unless the Government has a plan for ports and the maritime sector.

Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood, responding to comments from the Minister of Transport Hon. Stephen Joyce, says it is not good enough for the Government to leave it to chance when 99% of New Zealand’s imports and exports are shipped.

He says that there is widespread concern in the industry that in future cargo could be hubbed through a large Australian port, with complex and negative effects for New Zealand.

“This decision would be made by global shipping lines, whose interest is their own profit, not New Zealand’s long term economic security.”

Mr Fleetwood says that an October 2009 report from Auckland Regional Holdings, the business arm of Auckland Regional Council (ARC), had noted the risk that, over time, New Zealand containers would be hubbed through Australia.

Further comments last week from retiring Pacifica Shipping CEO Rod Grout backed up the view the current hands-off approach could end with New Zealand cargo being hubbed through Sydney or Melbourne.

Mr Fleetwood says the views of the maritime industry appear to be falling on deaf ears.

He says an example of potential problems could be seen with what had happened when Fonterra had changed its transport mode in South Canterbury with no warning from the Port of Timaru to long distance rail.

This had led to severe pressure on the port, and was just one of a number of examples where ports had risked major investments in infrastructure to build capacity, only to be left in the lurch by global shipping companies.

“This situation if repeated on a larger scale through hubbing to Australia due to decisions of shipping companies could result in huge disruption to regional economies, millions of dollars of infrastructure being mothballed, and our transport chain in chaos.”

Mr Fleetwood says Mr Joyce’s claim that changes in the port sector would occur naturally over time showed the Government did not grasp the implications of recent developments.

He says the Maritime Union wants a long term national strategy to ensure any rationalization of ports is achieved through a planned and non-destructive process.

Ports should be integrated through a “KiwiPort” system and coastal shipping had to receive the same support that road and rail did to create a effective, New Zealand-controlled transport system.

The Maritime Union of New Zealand is hosting a public meeting on the future of the Port of Timaru. The meeting will be held at the conference room at “Robbies” (Hibernian Hotel), Latter Street, Timaru on Thursday 17 September starting at 7.30pm sharp.

All concerned local people are invited to the meeting, including port workers, unions, business, industry, farmers, and all those concerned with the future of the port.

For more information see the Port of Timaru campaign website.

The Maritime Union is asking where the Government and the Minister of Transport stands on the future of regional ports after Fonterra announced it was withdrawing from some regional ports in favour of transporting goods by long distance rail last month.

Jobs are under threat, casualization is hitting workers hard, and the viability of regional ports is under a cloud after the decision, which has created intense debate in the regions and the transport industry.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says the union’s national executive met with a Fonterra representative earlier this week.

He says the meeting was a useful initial step but none of the issues had been resolved.

“We want to see Fonterra registering the fact they have a social responsibility to the communities they work with, not just a narrow focus on short term benefits for their shareholders.”

However he says the Government seems to have “turned on the auto pilot and left the bridge.”

Mr Hanson says that no satisfactory response has been forthcoming about the impact of Government investment in rail and how this could influence pricing, but questions were continuing to be asked throughout the industry.

“The Maritime Union supports public investment in rail, but if ports and coastal shipping are not receiving the same public investment, then this cannot lead to the most effective solution.”

Mr Hanson says there has to be a co-ordinated national strategy for ports and transport where Fonterra had a role but was not able to dominate for their own benefit.

He says the lack of response from the Transport Minister is a concern as it appears the Government had “gone to sleep” on a major issue in the regions and the heartland New Zealand communities it electioneered on.

“This is bigger than Fonterra. We are talking about the future of transport in New Zealand and if we leave it up to the biggest player to call the shots, then the result will not be a good one.”

The Maritime Union is pressing for “social responsibility” from Fonterra and a national transport strategy that works for the regions following the meeting between the union and the dairy giant.

Mr Hanson says that appears some progress has been made in Port Taranaki with extra work being found for the port by Fonterra, which would lessen the impact of its sudden switch to a long distance rail option.

He says that it is imperative that similar arrangements be made with the Port of Timaru, where job losses and the casualization of the workforce are occurring, with the port reeling from the loss of more than half of its container traffic.

The following resolution was passed this week at the national executive meeting of the Maritime Union of New Zealand in Wellington:

“The Maritime Union national executive registers its concerns at the actions of Fonterra in its arbitrary decision to stop shipments through Timaru and Taranaki and also the effect this will have on all the other ports”

“The Union will continue to campaign for a full and proper discussion among all stakeholders including ports, maritime workers, farmers, regional business, local government and national government to ensure that regional ports are not disadvantaged by Fonterra’s decisions.”

“Further more the unilateral move to bypass the environmental and commercially viable option of coastal shipping, is of further concern especially when New Zealand’s carbon footprint is of real concern in the future of NZ exports.”

The Maritime Union of New Zealand was formed in 2003 and represents waterfront workers, seafarers and related workers throughout New Zealand.

The Maritime Union has a message for the Government: instead of jailing New Zealanders in containers, it would be better to have them working on the containers by rebuilding coastal shipping.

Corrections Minister Judith Collins announced today a “container unit” will be set up at Rimutaka Prison to house surging numbers of prisoners, the latest embarrassing step in New Zealand’s failure to confront the real issues behind crime.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says New Zealand workers have been forced out of maritime employment in their own country by allowing overseas labour to be exploited on the New Zealand coastal waters.

He says that due to the “open coast” policy introduced by National in the 1990s New Zealand had seen its shipping industry taken apart, while many other countries reserved their domestic merchant shipping and fisheries for local industry.

Mr Hanson says the best way to reduce crime and social breakdown is stable employment for New Zealand workers and their families, which were under attack from job losses, casualization, low wages, shift work and increasing economic and social pressures.

“New Zealanders needs secure jobs, not jail cells.”

During the June 2009 quarter, the number of people unemployed reached 138,000, according to Statistics New Zealand. In the last year, the number of unemployed has grown by 48,000.

Mr Hanson says the Government has canned any investment in coastal shipping in favour of irresponsibly pushing heavy trucking, which will clog highways and push up greenhouse gas emissions.

He says the fishing industry is also another “disaster area” for jobs.

He says recent revelations in the TV documentary “The Great New Zealand Fishing Scandal” showed how New Zealand’s natural resources had been plundered by overseas fishing vessels working in joint ventures with New Zealand quota holders.

The use of underpaid and often mistreated overseas crews kept costs down for the operators, while New Zealanders had been forced out of the industry.

“The Government of New Zealand should be doing something about jobs for New Zealanders. There is nothing to proud of in the new low they have sunk to where we can incarcerate New Zealanders in shipping containers but not have them working in our maritime industry.”

Mr Hanson says “cabotage” on the New Zealand coast would reserve coastal shipping for New Zealand shipping, and the “New Zealandization” of the fishing industry would mean the same in that sector.

This would mean greater ability to regulate and ensure that New Zealand workers had employment opportunities in their own industry with secure, unionized jobs and decent wages and conditions.