Maritime Union of New Zealand

The Ports of Auckland has confirmed that it is proceeding with a plan to sack its stevedoring workforce.

Maritime Union National President Garry Parsloe says the union met with management this morning to find out the details of a management scheme to outsource jobs.

Mr Parsloe says the union attended the meeting to find out what the company plan was, and to receive information that would be taken back to the membership for discussion.

“The position of the Maritime Union and our members at Ports of Auckland remains clear. We will not accept this attack on workers and their basic rights of employment through contracting out aimed at undermining job security.”

Mr Parsloe says there was still a window for a negotiated solution, and nothing had been finalized.

“We think management need to change tack pretty quickly, because where they are heading could have very bad consequences for the port.”

He says their decisions brought into question their judgement, their motives and gave a sense there is another agenda here that the people of Auckland who own the port have not been told about.

Strong statements of support for port workers had been received from the Council of Trade Unions and affiliated unions, the International Transport Workers Federation, political organizations and representatives, and individual members of the community.

“People understand this how contracting out action would lead to a casualized workforce in one of Auckland’s key assets, and is being used as part of a broader port privatization grab.”

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 says the planned privatization of key public assets must be stopped.

The Prime Minister announced today the National Government were planning partial sales of key state assets.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the loss of further public assets would be a disaster for working people.

He says the Maritime Union would campaign to protect the assets that generations of New Zealand workers collectively contributed towards and built up.

“There is no way we can allow the National Government to flog off any more public assets to their rich mates.”

Mr Fleetwood says public assets such as energy and electricity generators and Solid Energy should remain in public ownership.

He says that previous claims the privatization of assets would benefit “mum and dad investors” were nonsense.

“All New Zealand mums and dads are already shareholders in these public assets. The only beneficiaries of privatization will be overseas investors and a minority of the very wealthy.”

“Privatization is not a one off, it is a process, and National are trying to get the process underway that will end in the sell off of the last remaining assets we own.”

He says that guarantees that majority ownership would remain in New Zealand hands were not worth the paper they were written on.

Mr Fleetwood says that asset sales together with free trade deals would soon reduce New Zealanders to tenants in their own country.

He says the Maritime Union would be mobilizing in election year to ensure all New Zealanders were aware of the threat of privatization.

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.

The Maritime Union of New Zealand is supporting the Corrections Association in their protest today against prison privatization at the opening of Parliament.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the safety and security of workers comes before cost cutting measures, and the Government has lost the plot in its prisons policies.

The Union has spoken out against the use of shipping containers as makeshift jail cells.

Mr Fleetwood says that the Maritime Union is incensed that the only “maritime policy” the Government seems to have is using containers for jails.

“With tens of thousands of young New Zealanders joining the ranks of the unemployed, this Government is doing nothing to support New Zealand shipping and getting young people good careers in coastal shipping moving New Zealand goods in containers.”

“Instead young people from deprived backgrounds will languish on the dole and slip into anti-social activities – and end up inside shipping containers. The National Government should be ashamed of itself.”

Mr Fleetwood says areas such as prisons should never been privatized and used as profit making machines.

On Wednesday 23 December representatives from the Maritime Union of New Zealand, Auckland Branch, Local 13 met with Labour MP’s Trevor Mallard, Phil Twyford and Darien Fenton regarding the future of key Auckland assets under the proposed Super City legislation.
Local 13 President Garry Parsloe, Secretary Russell Mayn and Maritime Walking Delegate Dave Phillips expressed their concern over the future of the Ports of Auckland which is under the cloud of privatization signalled by the removal of the public referendum safeguard covering this strategic public asset.
Garry Parsloe said that a city the size of Auckland depended on a vibrant port to sustain future growth, and the benefits returned to Auckland ratepayers through public ownership were significant. Not only does the port return profits to the public but it supported industry throughout the Auckland region.
It became clear that a lack of planning for an integrated Logistics Chain Strategy under a National Government would lead to further congestion on New Zealand roads.
With the demise of the Labour Party’s Roadways to Waterways Policy a void has been left in the future planning for an efficient New Zealand Transport Chain.
Rail and Coastal Shipping would play a key role in reducing the “Carbon Footprint” going into the future, and a policy to retain these key strategic assets in public control was essential as the demand for exports and imports increased over the next decade.
The Labour Party and the Union agreed to meet early in the New Year for formulate a policy that would address these issues and the wider issue of all Auckland public assets.
Mr Mayn commented that the future of the Ports of Auckland had been placed in the hands of the citizens of Auckland and the actions of Act MP Rodney Hide and the National Party to remove legislation protecting the Ports without consulting with the Auckland public were reprehensible.