Maritime Union of New Zealand

A combined union meeting at Port Otago today voted to reject new restructuring proposals from Port Otago management.

Around 200 union members attended a stopwork meeting at 1pm which halted work around the port and packed the Union hall in one of the largest meetings of recent years.

The workers are members of the Maritime Union of New Zealand and the Rail and Maritime Transport Union, who have a collective employment agreement with the port company. The port is one of the most highly unionized workforces in the south.

Maritime Union National President Phil Adams says workers at the port rejected a proposal to set up new divisions in the workforce.

“The proposals we have seen will either reduce our conditions of employment and health and safety, or lead to redundancies, and our members will not accept these outcomes.”

He says the workers are asking the company to adhere to the agreement which does not expire to July 2010.

Mr Adams says Port Otago is a major local public enterprise that is owned by the people of Otago through the Otago Regional Council.

“This is a company that has made consistently good returns to the shareholder, but there appears to be a new aggressive attitude amongst management which has nearly destroyed a previously good working relationship.”

Mr Adams says the port has had virtually no industrial action over the last decade with management accepting the Union’s role in the port, but this was now changing and could lead into a era of conflict.

He says that he believes there are other agendas behind the restructuring as the workforce at Port Chalmers had exceeded productivity targets and was very efficient.

Port Chalmers is a major port for exports of dairy and other primary products.

The Employment Court in Wellington today declined to put an injunction on possible pickets by workers at the Port of Napier as pickets loom over the summer.

Moves by the Port of Napier to contract out stevedoring work threaten 25 permanent and 60 casual jobs, with workers to be thrown on the scrap heap just before Christmas.

The case was heard yesterday under urgency, and the Employment Court today ordered parties back to mediation.

The two waterfront unions, the Maritime Union of New Zealand and the Rail and Maritime Transport Union, both appeared at the hearing, and were pleased by the result.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Trevor Hanson says the issues at stake are far wider than one Port and the situation had already gone international.

“The issue here is whether employers can use contracting out to dismantle secure jobs, to attack wages and conditions, to casualize jobs – and workers are going to take it to the wire.”

The workers whose jobs are threatened are Maritime Union members.

Mr Hanson says Port of Napier CEO Garth Cowie was badly mistaken if he thought the issue was going to fizzle out.

“This situation is going international, and the damage to the reputation of his port is already being done. This is line in the sand stuff for workers and we won’t be backing down.”

The Union had high level support from the Council of Trade Unions, the Maritime Union of Australia, and the International Transport Workers’ Federation, which represents 4 500 000 affiliated transport workers globally.

Mr Hanson says the ITF are considering declaring the Port of Napier a “port of convenience” ? a first for New Zealand.

“This means the Port of Napier will come under a major international spotlight as part of an ongoing ITF global campaign to protect secure jobs, which will have a major impact on their ability to successfully function as an international port.”

The port company was already the target of an international email campaign based in London  (www.labourstart.org/munz) with messages pouring in from around the world.

Mr Hanson says that substantial solidarity delegations of workers will be arriving in Napier shortly to support their fellow workers, including a group from Australia.

RMTU Organiser Todd Valster says his members are standing strong on critical issues of health and safety.

“This is a Port with a very poor safety record, and contracting out to under trained workers puts everyone at risk”.

“We are not going to train up a underskilled workforce to take the jobs of people who already do a great job.”

The Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) and Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) have announced an ‘agreement in principle’ to form a major new transport union.

A joint negotiating team has outlined a process for the formation of the new amalgamated Union that will cover both maritime workers in ports and on vessels, Rail and other Transport Industry workers.

Further negotiations will now take place on the final structure of the new Union, with the final proposal to be voted on by all members of the RMTU and MUNZ.

RMTU National Secretary Wayne Butson says both parties agree that much work has yet to be done on finalizing the rules and structures of the new Union and to resolving any outstanding issues.

MUNZ General Secretary Trevor Hanson says both parties have agreed to establish a process to further the establishment of the new Union and have committed to a timetable agreed by both parties.

The new Union would bring together all workers in New Zealand ports in one Union, and would have a major influence on the logistics chain by uniting workers in different areas of the land transport sector.

The two Unions representing port workers in New Zealand have come out against a proposed deal that would see the Port of Lyttelton pass into effective control of multinational corporate Hutchison.

The Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) and the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) are working together to promote local control of the port.

Rail and Maritime Transport Union General Secretary Wayne Butson says the sell-off means a vital piece of New Zealand infrastructure will be effectively going into overseas control, with serious repercussions for the New Zealand economy.

“The potential is there for the port to be completely privatised some time down the track.”

He says the deal is short-sighted, and will further place New Zealand’s export trade outside New Zealand control.

“The consolidation of ports and shippers into a few overseas operators could see importers and exporters faced with price hikes.”

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Trevor Hanson says the takeover by multinational Hutchison has the potential to destabilize the maritime industry in New Zealand.

“Hutchison could use their international clout to provide business advantages for Lyttelton that other ports don’t have.”

He says this could mean the closure of other South Island ports, with a devastating effect on jobs and the revenues that currently benefit local communities through local ownership of ports.

Mr Hanson says there is the threat of casual, short-term overseas labour being introduced to the port once New Zealand signs up to the free trade deal with China.

“We are extremely concerned that a global operator like this, based in Hong Kong, will find a way to introduce overseas labour through the free trade agreements.”

The Unions say their concerns are widespread in the wider maritime industry.

The two Unions are proposing that the Christchurch City Council through its business arm CCHL purchase the Port of Lyttelton outright.

This would keep ownership, control and revenue with the local community and the people of New Zealand.