Maritime Union of New Zealand

The Maritime Union says that the responsibility for the Rena disaster lies with Government and authorities as much as with individual crew members.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the arrest today of the master of the Rena on serious charges should not deflect attention away from the greater responsibility for the disaster.

He says New Zealand Government and authorities have created a situation where substandard flag of convenience shipping has been encouraged and enabled.

“1990s legislation from the then National Government created the so-called ‘open coast’ policy and this has meant that unacceptable practices have become the norm in New Zealand waters – it’s a case of out of sight and out of mind.”

Mr Fleetwood says a Maritime New Zealand “inspection” of the Rena in Bluff on 28 September 2011 apparently consisted of the inspector asking the Master whether previous problems had been fixed.

“This is the same Master that the authorities are now trying to pin the blame on a couple of weeks later after the disaster.”

“But at the time of the inspection they obviously were prepared to take the Master at his word that everything was hunky dory on his ship, despite the fact it had been hauled up in China and Australia for multiple problems.”

Mr Fleetwood says if this is the standard approach of Maritime New Zealand to dealing with obviously problematic vessels, the only surprise in the grounding of the Rena is that it hadn’t happened earlier.

He says the Union is very concerned about the welfare of crew members and wanted access to them to provide independent support.

“Can you imagine the stress of these seafarers, many with dependent families, who have spent nearly a week onboard a stricken vessel in mortal fear of their lives, and some only being taken off by helicopter after a Mayday call when the ship appeared to be in imminent catastrophe.”

He says it is now becoming a regular theme that systemic policy and regulation failures are resulting in serious harm to workers, the community and the environment.

“It is about time that the elected leaders started copping it when things go wrong rather than putting a smother over it and trying to shift the blame.”

He says the Union was repeating its call for all Maritime New Zealand reports on the Rena to be made public as soon as possible.

“If the authorities have managed to arrest the captain in such a fast manner, they can start to make public their own processes for full transparency and accountability to the New Zealand public.”

Mr Fleetwood says the Union has been arguing for stronger regulation of shipping for years in New Zealand waters, but Government’s have not wanted to hear the message.

He says the Union has had longstanding concerns that Maritime New Zealand regulations and inspections of flag of convenience vessels were superficial, limited and not strict enough.

The Union has compiled a short list of some of the flag of convenience shipping issues that it has been involved in over the last few years (see end of media release).

Mr Fleetwood says comment by Transport Minister Steven Joyce that the Maritime Union’s views were “political” were accurate.

“Mr Joyce is right. The issue is political. It is political because the John Key led National Government have been happy to have flag of convenience ships running on the New Zealand coast as a result of their political decisions.”

“In this case their political decision to promote and allow flag of convenience shipping on the New Zealand coast has had real life consequences, which have proved far beyond the political ability and the practical ability of the Government to deal with.”

“If we allowed trucks on New Zealand roads that were licensed in Liberia or some other semi-functioning failed state, and driven by unregulated overseas drivers, there would be an outcry. Yet that is what we allow on the New Zealand coast and now we are paying the price.”

Mr Fleetwood says in addition to its campaigning against Flag of Convenience shipping it had lobbied the Government last year with a plan to provide a fast response vessel for offshore oil spills.

The Union approached the Minister of Energy and Resources, Hon Gerry Brownlee, as well as the Minister of Transport Hon Steven Joyce and Minister of Environment Hon Nick Smith, in July 2010 to support the introduction of a ready response vessel for the maritime sector to cope with oil spills and similar events.

This ready response vessel would have been aimed at the offshore oil and gas industry but could easily have been used to quickly respond to oil leaks in the current Rena disaster.

The Union was told to send their information into a Ministry of Economic Development review, which it did.

Further background information: Some previous incidents on Flag of Convenience vessels in NZ waters including cargo and fishing vessels and crews

May–July 2011
In May 2011, Southern Storm Fishing held a “media event” in Dunedin where journalists were invited on board to inspect their new vessel, the Oyang 75, that replaces the Oyang 70 that sank last year.
But less than two months later, in July 2011, the crew abandoned the Oyang 75 en masse in Lyttelton, claiming physical and verbal abuse and underpayment.

July 2011
Overseas crew members left the ShinJi in Auckland due to underpayment and mistreatment. DOL investigating.
In 2009 the ITF and Maritime Union previously investigated the Shin Ji after 12 Indonesian crew members left the vessel.

December 2010
Five Korean crew are confirmed dead and 17 missing presumed drowned after the No. 1 In Sung sank in the Southern Ocean in unexplained circumstances.

August 2010
Oyang 70 fishing vessel sinks in Southern Ocean. Six deaths. Survivors brought to Lyttelton. Claims of underpayment by surviving crew investigated (Korean, Filipino, Indonesian, Chinese).

May 2010
Two sailors, one Korean and one Burmese, died after suffocating in the TPC Wellington’s timber hold at Marsden Point wharf near Whangarei in May 2010.

2010
10 Sri Lankan crew members aboard the MV Charelle docked at the Ports of Auckland were not paid for 3 ½ months.
The vessel and its previous crew were held by Somali pirates for six months last year, only being released after a ransom was paid on 3 December 2009.
Crew members were being paid well below ITF rates and even less than International Labour Organization (ILO) minimums.

2009
The Liberian-flagged Annapurna was seized by creditors after it berthed in Auckland in 2009, following the bankruptcy of its owners Eastwind.
The Maritime Union looked after 23 Burmese crew members, some of the crew members had not been paid for up to a year.

June 2009
12 Indonesian fishermen from joint venture fishing vessel Shin Ji leave vessel in Tauranga, citing non payment of wages, harassment and substandard conditions.
NZ$52,776 back pay obtained for crew and repatriation to country of origin.

2008
The Maritime Union took action to recover the unpaid wages of a Russian crew aboard the Southern Pearl after it was arrested in the Ports of Auckland.

June 2006
Burmese crew aboard Sky 75 in Timaru approach union for help.
Wages were unpaid, physical and verbal abuse. 10 Indonesian crew previously jumped ship in Nelson in 2005 with similar claims.

May 2006
Joint venture fishing vessel Malakhov Kurgan involved in crew dispute in Lyttelton.
Crew wished to be paid New Zealand minimum wage when working in New Zealand waters. Threats from Ukraine based employers received by crew.

March 2006
9 Indonesian fishermen from Korean fishing vessel Marinui jump ship in Dunedin, claiming severe physical and mental abuse.
Crew were being paid US$6 per day. Repatriation and backpay organized.

January 2004
33-year old Vietnamese fishermen Vo Minh Que drowned near Stewart Island after falling from the trawler Tasnui.
Maritime New Zealand reported that poor condition of vessel and lack of safety gear or procedures contributed to his death.

January 2004
Several watersiders were lucky to escape when several tonnes of collapsing equipment from a ship’s crane crashed onto the wharf at Southport in Bluff on Wednesday 14 January 2004.
At around 1.30pm, a gantry crane on board the Marshall Island-flagged ‘Tasman Independence’ had a large turntable crash onto the wharf with cargo after metal ropes snapped.
Three waterfront workers and a forklift driver were ‘a couple of metres away’ from where the wreckage fell.

November 2003
A crane on board the Hong Kong-flagged Maritime Friendship snapped while loading logs onboard at Port Chalmers at around 9.18pm on Friday 28 November 2003.
The boom of the crane swung around onto the operators’ cab, breaking windows and bending the cab’s window frame.
A local watersider operating the crane had to dive for cover in the back of the cab.

International incidents of note with Flag of Convenience vessels in recent years include the grounding of the Panamanian flagged bulk carrier “Pasha Bulker” in Newcastle, Australia, 8 June 2007.

The Maritime Union says it intends to make sure a Government inquiry into transport and logistics is not just about promoting privatization in the ports sector.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the Union will be taking an active and critical approach in its contributions to the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into International Freight Transport Services.

“We won’t be accepting any status quo thinking and ‘free market is best’ assumptions that sometimes accompanies these reports.”

Key issues for the Union include keeping control of New Zealand ports in New Zealand hands.

Mr Fleetwood says any move to privatize ports would quickly result in the control of New Zealand’s logistics infrastructure passing to GNT (global network terminal) operators and shippers, who would operate the system for their own benefit, not New Zealand’s benefit.

He says many problems with New Zealand ports currently come from lack of planning and co-ordination, not through lack of competition.

“The Maritime Union is proposing a KiwiPort concept where port ownership remains in community control but national co-ordination is used to minimize disruption and end the duplication of infrastructure we currently see.”

The Maritime Union had been arguing for years that secure permanent jobs, a career path for young people entering the industry, and world leading health and safety had to underpin any productivity gains.

“There is no point expecting productivity from casualized workers who are not properly trained and for whom there is no career path. But this is the approach of many employers in the industry.”

“We will be making sure that productivity is not just an accounting term for employer profit, but refers to the wellbeing of workers in the industry.”

He says the Union questions some of the assumptions suggested by the Productivity Commission, including a concept of competition as an intrinsic good.

“In the maritime industry, competition has driven corner cutting on health and safety which has led to deaths and injuries, downwards pressure on wages and conditions resulting in casualization, and a lack of national co-ordination in the port sector.”

“We are looking at the real world situation, not an economics textbook. We are the people who are out there being productive around the clock and we expect our voices to carry some weight.”

The Maritime Union is also promoting a much greater role for coastal shipping as an important part of the low-impact, environmentally sustainable transport mix of the 21st century.

Coastal shipping and regional ports also provide an important security and civil defence function, as had been seen during the Christchurch Earthquake disaster, when ports provided the main emergency logistics link for relief supplies.

The Maritime Union is calling for the abandonment of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, describing the free trade plan as a “sell out to global corporations.”

Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the great majority of New Zealanders and even our political representatives have little understanding of the implications of free trade deals like the TPPA.

“Free trade agreements such as the TPPA are giving global corporations more power to do as they want regardless of what is good for the majority of people.”

“Decisions that affect all of us are being made behind closed doors in free trade stitch ups.”

The Maritime Union is actively supporting a number of campaigns including TPPWatch and New Zealand Not For Sale that are calling for a halt to the TPPA and public accountability.

Mr Fleetwood says the free trade agreements harm the democratic rights of workers who make up the majority.

“These agreements are eroding democracy, in favour of control of our economy and society by powerful global corporations.”

He says that maritime workers work in the first globalized industry, the maritime industry, and understand what unregulated “free trade” means.

One example he says is the so-called “open coast” policy, that allows overseas owned and crewed vessels to carry New Zealand cargo between New Zealand ports, and which had devastated New Zealand shipping.

“As a result New Zealand is now a remote island trading nation that has allowed its shipping capability to be placed in jeopardy.”

The fishing industry had also had countless problems over the years with the abuse of overseas crew on overseas vessels fishing New Zealand waters.

Mr Fleetwood says the use of Flag of Convenience vessels and the creation of Ports of Convenience were a warning of where free trade deals could lead a small nation like New Zealand.

“One of the issues the Maritime Union has raised include the use of short-term cross border labour being used, which is becoming increasingly common around the world.”

“This is used to drive down wages and conditions and create a casualized, insecure workforce, hurting both the local workers and the imported workers.”

Other concerns of the Maritime Union include the privatization of assets such as ports and transport.

“New Zealand should be purchasing goods from local and public enterprises, and ensuring we maintain a balanced economy, with secure, high paid jobs.”

Mr Fleetwood says that New Zealand’s economy will always be based on trade, so the Union supported a system of global fair trade that worked to ensure secure jobs and balanced economic development.

He says there is a growing global movement against the deregulated free market and free trade policies that had caused economic disasters such as the global financial meltdown of the last several years.

The Maritime Union has dismissed comments by global shipping line Maersk about the merger of Port of Lyttelton and Port of Otago.

The two ports announced a planned merger of operations yesterday, subject to approval by the Chamber of Commerce.

Maersk New Zealand managing director Julian Bevis was reported today as saying he had concerns about the “dominance” of the new port structure and how this would affect prices, services and market competition.

Mr Fleetwood says it is hard to take such concerns with a straight face.

“Maersk is a massive operation, the world’s largest shipping and container terminal conglomerate, and they must really be short of things to worry about if this is all they can come up with.”

He says that Maersk’s ongoing global growth through mergers and acquisitions indicated that they had no concerns with any effect on competition by their own operations.

Mr Fleetwood says the goal of any capitalist corporate like Maersk was to dominate the market and reduce their risk and exposure to competition.

“Let’s face it, the reality is that they are the ones dominating the market and threatening competition, not two ports in the South Island of New Zealand.”

Mr Fleetwood says the problem with New Zealand ports was the exact opposite of Mr Bevis’ claims.

“New Zealand ports have long been played off against each other by powerful shipping companies, and even large local corporates such as Fonterra.”

This has resulted in serious disruption to regional ports, which had many negative implications for New Zealand’s economy and social stability.

Mr Fleetwood says the Maritime Union was cautiously optimistic about the merger between Port of Lyttelton and Port of Otago.

“Obviously it is early days, but ports working together like this could have benefits, as long as it does not lead to any regional ports being undermined.”

He says the Union would like to see ports remain under public ownership, but also come under some form of national co-ordination, a concept which the Union calls “Kiwiport.”

“Ports are not just another business, they are key infrastructure, and the gateway for New Zealand exports and imports. They need to be operated in the national interest.”

The Maritime Union had been active in the Keep Our Port Public campaign in 2006 during an unsuccessful attempt to part-privatize Port of Lyttelton through a deal with global terminal operator Hutchison.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says recent statements from Minister of Transport Stephen Joyce and retiring Pacifica Shipping Chief Executive Rod Grout on New Zealand ports and shipping show the need for immediate action in the maritime industry.

Mr Fleetwood says it is incorrect for the National Government to say they want market forces decide the future of the maritime industry, when massive taxpayer investment was directed at roads and rail.

He says that a “hands off” approach to the maritime industry means major market players would dominate the market and make decisions that could harm New Zealand’s transport infrastructure.

“The warning from Rod Grout that New Zealand cargo could end up being hubbed through Australian ports is a very real possibility, which would result in further loss of control of New Zealand exports and downgrading of our transport infrastructure.”

Mr Fleetwood says the Union is advocating a KiwiPort concept which would see co-ordination of ports at a national level, a level of investment by Government, and a planned approach to New Zealand’s transport needs.

He says an example of the much promoted “market forces” causing havoc are the moves by Fonterra to shift its products onto long distance rail rather than through local ports which had damaged the Port of Timaru in 2009.

“The path proposed by the current Government is to do nothing and let destructive parochial competition play out between our ports and a few self-interested big players.”

He says New Zealand has continued to be disadvantaged by its dependence on global shippers who controlled port trade.

“As a trading nation and a maritime island nation, it is irresponsible and short sighted to have no long term direction for our maritime transport industry set by the Government.”

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.